


Behind a Smile

by SkylerWrites (Maanling)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Awesome Pepper Potts, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Flash Thompson Needs a Hug, Flash Thompson Redemption, Foster Care, Genius Peter Parker, Homeless Peter Parker, Hurt Michelle Jones, Intern Peter Parker, M/M, May Parker (Spider-Man) Dies, Michelle Jones is Pepper Potts intern, Multi, Natasha Romanov Has Issues, Nonbinary Michelle Jones, Not Spider-Man: Homecoming Compliant, Past Sexual Abuse, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Protective May Parker (Spider-Man), Slow Burn, Trans Male Peter Parker, recovering alcoholic Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28260408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maanling/pseuds/SkylerWrites
Summary: Peter Parker's life was at a point where he was content. He could manage his dysphoria and was on the way to relieve a whole lot of it. Spider-man had not gotten a major injury in two months. Aunt May and him were in an agreement on Spider-man. He had food, he had a roof above his head and he was doing alright. No one's life was perfect, but the good and the bad things balanced out.Until they did not.It all started when May was placed into quarantine. Whooping Cough, she said. A patient had coughed on her during her triage, it was just a precaution. Completely treatable, he knew.But Aunt May had lied. Or she didn't know.Follow Peter while he tries to survive and keep up the act.Follow the Staff of Stark Industries while they navigate dealing with the Stark's unexpected announcements and new initiatives.Learn how Stark Industries is a community, the avengers, employees and friends.{TAGS UPDATED IF I THINK OF OTHER ONES}
Relationships: Avengers Team & Original Character(s), Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Shuri, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark & Original Character(s), Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Flash Thompson, Peter Parker/Flash Thompson
Comments: 25
Kudos: 160





	1. C1: A great first day

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there, thank you for reading my book. This book started like a year or two ago when I couldn't sleep. Seeing as I am a very procrastinative person, I am currently using it to escape working on school, as you should XP.
> 
> Basically it contains a lot of my favourite tropes that I don't commonly see. A realistic Flash Thompson redemption arc. People's homelives not always being as perfect as they seem. A recovering alcoholic Tony Stark. Actual People in Stark Industries being interacted with. Lots and lots of LGBTQ+ characters. Different types of dysphoria. Homeless Peter Parker.
> 
> Basically I like to see people suffer and then give them the fluff they deserve.

Although Pepper Potts was famous for dealing with Tony ‘PR nightmare’ Stark, she was just about to create a big one herself. Yes, even she had moments where she went against all logic in her brain telling her to plan things out and just said screw it and announced whatever it was. It was rare, but this was one of those occurrences. Sometimes it was because she was so passionate about it, she couldn’t keep from talking about it. Other times she just couldn’t keep a secret just to put a reporter in their place. Like right now. 

“Thomas Adamson from Youth Magazine. Stark Industries likes to present as this company that uses about 10% of its profits to give back to the community. How can you justify saying this and do nothing about the growing population of homeless people on the streets of New York and actually around the whole country and the average age?” The reporter asked, getting increasingly more aggressive in how he asked the question. 

Pepper was furious. Not only can an organization only do so much, but instead of acknowledging that they, a multi-billion-dollar company spends 10% on of its profits, which is an extraordinary feat because these profits also need to be used to compensate for failed products, invest in new ones, could be pocketed by the stakeholders. They could be doing so many things and instead, they are using it to give back to the community. They are helping children go to college when they are less fortunate, they help veterans get the support they need, including medical expenses. They are helping transgender children get the things they need for their transition. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. 

How dare he claim that they are doing nothing for the community because they can’t immediately supply a solution for a rapidly growing problem that only increased significantly somewhere in the past of last year. They are not a relief organization, their support is not the main goal of their company and they have to deal with so much backlash from greedy stakeholders, legalities and it’s just... It’s infuriating because they would love to have solved the problem already and now they are accusing them because they haven’t yet. 

“Mister Adamson, although I would advise you to next time not ask a question so out of context from the original intention of this press conference about the appointment of a new Head of our Public Relations department, I would like to clarify that we are currently working on shelters across the country dedicated to youth, especially those from the LGBTQ+ community. This, however, requires time and space amongst other things. It requires people to run shelters, it requires places for the shelters to be, it requires all sorts of legal matter that the legal department is currently knee-deep in. So needless to say, we don’t need to justify anything as your claim is false. I will not be further commenting on this project and will only be accepting questions about Mx. Ramirez’s new position in our company. She proclaimed and continued on with the press conference. 

____

Meanwhile, Joan was sitting behind their desk and watching the press conference, groaning. They were going to murder Pepper. She can’t just make these claims and not answer anything about it. Misinformation was going to be spread, the release dates were going to have to be moved up or the public would react negatively and combatting the backlash about the fact that it would focus on teens in the LGBTQ community needed more employees than were scheduled to be present today. So yeah, they were going to murder Pepper Potts. But not right now, because right now they needed to think of how to handle this mess. 

When they heard the phone ring, they eyed it wearily, it wasn’t going to be more bad news, was it? One sigh later they picked it up. “Stark Industries PR Department, you have reached Joan, how can I help you?” they asked, trying their hardest to keep up the façade of being ready for every challenge and able to help everyone. 

“Yeah this is Kai, I saw the press conference, need me to head on in?” Joan could almost cry of happiness, thank god for Kai. 

“Yes, yes please. That would be great. Thank you so much.” 

“Don’t worry about it, I get it. Wait until Tony pulls one of these, it’s going to be twice as busy.” Kai said, chuckling. “Well, I’m about ten minutes out, I was just at the skatepark but took a break to watch the press conference. Good thing I did, ain’t it. Well, I’ll see you in a bit. Go and do your thing, you got this.” 

“Thanks, Kai, you are a lifesaver.” They said and with that, they hung up. “FRIDAY, can you remember me to look into Kai’s performance? Is this something he does often? When is the last time he got a raise, that sort of thing.” 

“Of course, Mx Ramirez,” FRIDAY responded. 

“Oh none of those formal titles, although I’m glad you are using the correct one. Just call me Joan. You are going to make me feel old.” 

“Naturally, Joan. I would like to inform you that Miss Potts is video-calling you.” 

They hit their head against their desk a few times before responding. “Thank you, FRIDAY, accept please.” A holographic screen appeared in front of her, the width of her desk and the right half was covered by Pepper’s face. The other half had the current social media statistics displayed, as they had indicated when they set it up. “Ah, Miss Potts, to what do I owe the pleasure.” They said, sarcastically. “It couldn’t possibly be about a surprise announcement that someone decided was not worth discussing with the... I don’t know, head of PR?” 

Pepper smiled apologetically. “Sorry Jo, that reporter was just...” Pepper made a strangling motion with her hands. “That doesn’t excuse it, I know. Let me know what I can do to help.” 

Joan waved the apology away. Even though it wasn’t what they wanted their first day to look like and it would mean a lot of problem fixing, they too knew that they would probably have reacted the same way. It’s what happens when you put together a bunch of passionate people and give them the opportunity, they are going to do something they are proud of and want to shout it from the rooftops. “Oh, can’t whine about having to do my job. I would’ve preferred it once I had gotten to know my staff better, but we can’t get everything in life. What you can do is go and talk to Legal, you know, the people who currently have the most to do with the project. Try to have them work even faster. Pull a few all-nighters, make it a pizza party I don’t care. The public is expecting a launch date and it will ideally be within two weeks instead of the planned two months. I want legal to get back to me within two days so I know what to announce.” 

Pepper ran a hand through her hair. “Pizza party, yeah that could work. Create the best out of a bad situation. Keep up morale. Besides, the earlier this is up and running, the better. Kids being able to get out of abusive households, all that. Alright, I’m going to be in my office, trying to gather as many employees as possible and try to get enough pizza for everyone. Thanks again.” Pepper was already hurrying off when FRIDAY ended the call. Joan inspected the now full-screen statistics. Twitter was raving about it, Tumblr even more so. The hashtag QueersStanSI was already trending. But there were quite a few comments on the demographic as well. Some saying stuff as kids pretending to be part of the community, just to get shelter. Sending out a message to all employees that whoever was free was encouraged to help with this PR-emergency, paid in overtime. They got to work on reacting to the messages with the official Stark Industries account. This was going to be a long day, they could already tell. 

____ 

Spider-man was swinging through the streets of Queens, looking around for people to help. The rain was pouring and he was already freezing, but it wasn’t like crime stopped because of a little bit of rain. People still needed help and accidents still happened. So he wasn’t surprised and was strangely relieved when his spider senses got significantly more noticeable as he saw a car crash waiting to happen when a car started slipping on the wet road. He managed to shoot a web to stop the car from hitting other cars and out of danger and went to check up on the driver. The driver was, understandably, in a state of shock. But instead of just needing to catch their breath and being filled with adrenaline, they were actually starting to have a panic attack. Thankfully, Spider-man had experience with those, so he knew a few techniques that could help them 

After knocking on the window to announce his presence the driver managed, with some effort due to shaking hands, to let the arachnid hero inside. He immediately got to work. “Hey there. As you probably already know, I’m Spider-man. I saw your car slipping so I pulled you out of danger. Now I need you to breathe with me. Is it okay if I touch you?” He started and his question earned a nod. He grabbed their hand and placed it on his chest, pushing away the dysphoria he was currently feeling because this was more important. “Breathe with me okay, in for four seconds out for eight. In 2 3 4 Out 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 In 2 3 4 Out 2 3 4 …” and this continued on for a bit until the panicked individual had calmed down enough that they would be okay if they were left alone. Meanwhile, a police car had stopped by to check up on them but after seeing what was going on, they had waited in their own car until they saw a wave from Spider-man beckoning them over. 

“Can you tell us what happened....” The man paused. “Miss... Mister... Mi..” Oh, this was awkward. 

“Don’t bother, I’m neither. I slipped. I lost control over the wheel. Thankfully this man over here managed to pull me away from the rest of the traffic and other dangers before anything else could happen. But I panicked, and he helped me with my panic attack.” 

The agent, still confused by the gender of the person, nodded. “Well then, could I see your drivers license please?” He asked and the person handed it over after some digging for their phone in their bag. The man looked at it, noted some things on a notepad, and handed it back. “Thank you, miss. Have a nice day.” After that, he got out and walked back to his partner in the car, and drove away. The driver did not. They sat there, their hands gripping the steering wheel so tight that their knuckles turned white. Then they put their drivers license back in their phone case and threw the phone into the backseat of the car. It appears they had forgotten about the other figure in the car. 

“They will never understand. Well, maybe someday, but for now they won’t. It sucks and it shouldn’t be like that but... it is what it is.” Spider-man said, trying to console the visibly upset driver. 

They slumped in their seat. “It’s not even that. I know I’ll get misgendered my whole life. I know that. I realize that. It just hurts even more that I told him that I was neither and he decided that the marker on my license meant more than my words. I usually don’t even say anything but he couldn’t figure out what to call me and I had this surge of euphoria and was confident for just a second and then it got stomped back in the ground and I hate it.” 

“I get what that feels like, honestly. I’m just a bit more privileged than you are but I still get it.” 

“What, you are a bit more privileged because you are cis? I think you are a whole lot more privileged than me, buddy.” 

Spider-man burst out laughing. “You... you felt my chest, you heard my voice, you heard me say I know what it feels like and you still assumed I was cis? Oh, thank you for making my day.” The driver turned to face him now, eyes wide. “Just, maybe don’t tell a whole lot of people. Maybe tell a trans friend if they are feeling down but... I’d rather not have it out in the public if you get what I mean.” 

“Yeah, no sure, I get that. Uhm. Thank you. For telling me. Yeah. Holy shit. I’m Nico. They/them pronouns.” They said extending their hand. 

“Spider-man, alias unknown. He/him pronouns. Do you... have a discord or something by any chance?” He said, grabbing and shaking it. 

Nico climbed in the back to grab his phone. “Uhuh, yeah. If you remove your glove I can write it on your hand?” Spider-man removes his glove and Nico grabs a pen that is lying in the pocket under the window and starts writing the code needed to add them as a friend. “There you go, thanks for offering it. This is just... awesome.” 

Spider-man put his glove back on and got ready to leave. “Need anything else?” 

Nico debated whether to ask for it or not. In the end, he decided that he could always ask. “I was wondering... I mean if you don’t want to, say no by all means but... Can I perhaps get a hug?” 

“Of course, I love hugs. Don’t get them enough.” Spider-man reached out to hug them. It was nice. One of the best hugs they had ever had. “Well, I’ll add you later tonight. Stay safe, maybe even park the car somewhere and walk back and come back when it is less slippery. Good luck!” And with that Spider-man slipped out of the car and started swinging away. 

The first thing Peter Parker did when he slipped through his bedroom window was take off his Spider-man suit and changed from the size-up binder he used when patrolling to a hoodie. He may be binding for over 12 hours every day but he tried to compensate by at least not wearing it at home if his dysphoria allowed it. Stretching a bit and coughing to make sure there wasn’t fluid building up in his lungs he gave his body and himself room to breathe. He stuffed his suit away and walked into the apartment to find his aunt. 

“May, are you home?” No response. Weird, May should be done with her shift by now. He checked his phone, but her latest message was her enquiring whether tacos for dinner was alright with him. Peter shrugged and sent her a text asking her where she was. He wasn’t too worried for now, but he would if she didn’t respond within 15 minutes. But he needed to fill those 15 minutes so he decided to add Nico as a friend on discord. Nico responded within 5 minutes, saying that they were home safe and thanking him again. Peter liked Nico, they seemed nice. It was this that kept Peter busy for another 20 minutes. But when Nico had to leave and Peter checked the time, he realized he still hadn’t gotten a response from May. Now he was starting to worry. It wasn’t like May to be home later than expected and just not say anything. 

His anxiety started to take over and he eventually dug through his phone to find the number of a colleague of May that she had sent in case of emergencies. One ring. Two. Three. “June speaking, who am I speaking with?” Oh, thank god it was the right number. He always thought it was funny how June and May were friends, the joke wasn’t lost on him. But he couldn’t laugh about it now, not while his heart was pounding faster and faster. “Hello?” 

Oh right, he had to actually speak. “Uh yeah hi. I’m Peter? Peter Parker? My aunt gave me this number. May. Parker.” That came out... reasonably well. 

“I’m glad you called Peter. I couldn’t find your number anymore. You are probably wondering where May is. The thing is, she is in quarantine.” 

“Quarantine? What, why, how long?” Okay, now he was actually panicking. 

A sigh was heard from the other end of the phone. “It’s just a precaution. Someone came into the ER with these strange symptoms and the symptoms resembled something that could be highly contagious but we only found that out after your aunt attended to him to assess what was happening to him. Actually, a lot more people are in quarantine, but I figured right now you would only care about your aunt.” 

Peter started frantically packing some stuff to take to the hospital. He needed to talk to May. Needed to see her be alright. “I can visit her, right. Of course not inside the containment but I can see her?” 

“Yeah, you should be allowed, being a relative and all that. Send me a text when you arrive here, will you? I’ll take you to her without having to go through all those forms.” June replied. 

Peter sighed out of relief. “Thank you, June. You are a lifesaver.” 

“No worries. See you in a bit, Peter.” 

“See you in a bit.” June ended the phone call as soon as he said that. “Alright, important decisions. Binder or no binder. Who am I kidding? I’m not leaving the house without a binder. Binder or size up binder.” He said to himself. “Don’t know how long I’ll be there. Think I should play it safe. But I don’t want to get too dysphoric there. So I could just wear a newer one and take the other binder with me just in case. Yeah. Sounds like a plan. Good job, Pete! Thank you, Peter!” He finished the verbalization of his internal debate and started rushing to the hospital. 

____ 

He texted June when he was about five minutes away and she was there as promised to escort him to May. He was really glad he wouldn’t have to go to the people at the desk because when they walked past the desk, he saw that the guy who didn’t like him was manning the desk and he didn’t really need anything else on top of his current point of anxiety. 

Following June with just a few stops because someone needed her help Peter arrived at the quarantine room. He didn’t know what to expect. On one hand, he expected her to just be... May, but with a clear divider between them. On the other hand, he expected to see her lying in a hospital bed, close to dying. What he got was a bit in-between. She wasn’t very ill it seemed; you wouldn’t even tell that there was something going on if not for the IV that she was attached to. And of course, her being in quarantine. 

She was glad to see him, he could see that. “Peter! You are here! Did June call you?” She said. She sounded exhausted. Was she just tired or was she infected? Did they know whether she was infected? What even was the infection, what kind of disease? Peter didn’t know and he didn’t like not knowing. 

“No, she didn’t. She couldn’t find my number. I called her after you didn’t come home and didn’t let me know.” I replied. “But it’s fine. Just a tad hungry because I was waiting on tacos with you. More importantly, how are YOU?” 

May waved him away. “Oh, I’m fine, I’m fine. Don’t worry about it. That gentleman over there might have whooping cough, and he may have coughed while I was checking on him. But the cough is what gave us the suspicions so it seems we caught it quickly. It’s just hoping that he didn’t give it to any other people and that we don’t have an outbreak on our hands. For now, we just need to wait for the tests to come back. At least it happened in the hospital, so we have a lot of professionals handling it.” She explained. 

However, Peter was still not at ease. Whooping cough could be bad. Real bad. Also, this meant Peter would have to be home alone for an extended period of time or spend long nights at the hospital. He already knew this wouldn’t end well. Did he trust himself enough to take care of himself? That would be a no. Maybe he could stay at Ned’s house? No, he couldn’t be a burden, he didn’t know how long this would take. Maybe May had thought of this already. “Are you- Do I need to stay home alone while you are here?” He asked, hesitantly. 

This made May give him a sorrowful smile. “I’m afraid so buddy. Unless you can stay at Ned’s or something like that. But you are becoming an adult, maybe this will do you some good. Give you a sense of independence, something like that. You can always visit me of course and I’m soon going to get my phone back so you’ll be able to call me if you can’t turn the stove on or something like that.” Peter nodded. This was going to suck. 

May and Peter talked for a bit after that, until May got her dinner and Peter admitted that he was starving as well. June had tried to get him dinner too, but the kitchen was already unprepared for the quarantined people, let alone for superhero arachnid relatives with high metabolisms that they didn’t know about. May told him that she’d refund him for all the grocery shopping he’d do while she was away, within reason, as she couldn’t exactly hand him money right now. But then it was time for him to leave and he decided to get a pizza at the Italian restaurant near the hospital. They always had a lot of food for a small price and he usually ended up with a doggy bag. He figured it’d be fast and he might also have some pizza for breakfast so he didn’t have to get that either. 

After a quite tearful goodbye, with a promise to visit tomorrow and to stay safe, Peter left the hospital.


	2. C2 - Of course I am mentally prepared for this, why wouldn't I be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oooh anxiety. So much anxiety. Peter is really anxious, Pepper isn't really anxious but knows it's a mess. Tony... Tony is just an anxious mess. But it all will be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for continuing with reading! This is a pretty Pepper-heavy chapter just because she's a main character for like two out of three of the segments. But we have some Peter, we have some Nico (Nico is already becoming my comfort character so expect to see more of him) and we have Tony. We have some more interaction with Joan and Kai from PR. Ooooh so many characters.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Luckily for Peter, the restaurant wasn’t far from the hospital so he didn’t have to worry about changing into his stretched-out binder while swinging. He did not want to face May’s wrath if she found out he was exercising in a newer binder. Walking was fine though, so he walked to the restaurant which was about 5 minutes of walking. He had hyped himself up along the way. Spider-man wouldn’t be afraid of ordering at a restaurant. He’d just do it. He could do it. Two medium pepperoni pizza please. Two medium pepperoni pizza please. Two medium pepperoni pizza please. He started humming lower and lower trying to make sure his voice wouldn’t give him away, testosterone could only do so much, he had to go past that weird voice stage so in the meantime he just needed to hum. Hum and repeat his order in his head. 

Peter stepped into the restaurant, not humming anymore and luckily there was no line. He got seated immediately and said that he would also like to order immediately, if possible. It wasn’t long before someone came to his table to take his order. Great. Awesome, he could finally get some…. NICO? Oh. Shit. Don’t panic. They don’t know it’s you. They probably think you are staring at them because they are androgynous. Voice. Right. In his deepest, least Spider-man like voice he said “Oh sorry I’m not staring, my mind just blanked on what I wanted to say. You remind me of someone, but I saw them in Europe so I very much doubt it would be you and it was just in passing. Some people just make an impression, I guess. Sorry, rambling. I’m just trying to remember what I wanted to say and fill up the void. Right, order. Uhhh, could I get two medium pepperoni pizza’s please? Like have one of them in a box so it cools down less quick and it’s automatically a doggybag?” 

“Oh that can be arranged. Anything to drink with that?” 

“Right drinks. Just a Coke would be fine, thanks.” 

“Coming right up. If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to signal me, that’s what I am here for.” 

___ 

The food was good, as always. And he still had half a pizza for breakfast tomorrow. It wasn’t enough but he was sure they also had some cereal or something. They might not be able to go on holidays and days out would mean taking pictures and hiking in a forest instead of going to the movies or to an amusement park. Something that May always made sure of was that Peter got enough to eat, especially with his heightened intake due to testosterone and being Spider-man. They didn’t need a lot of money, just enough to pay the bills and the groceries. They’d make do with the rest. 

Speaking of money, Peter needed to make sure he kept up his grades so he kept his scholarship. So even though Peter could already understand and practice physics and chemistry on a level that some PhD students would envy, he still needed to do the homework and make sure that his other subjects were on the good level as well. It doesn’t matter if you are amazing at physics, if you can’t write an essay on the use of weapons in ancient civilisations or something equally depression-inducing topic (We get it. Hurting other people and animals is in our nature.) But he managed to do those essays well, they just took up a lot of time that he could be spending patrolling, or inventing things. It would just be a lot easier if he didn’t have to write papers where every part of the text could take an hour because he was thinking about every word and often got distracted. 

But it was fine because he managed to do it. He kept up this perfect student persona, managed to be a friendly neighbourhood Spider-man and worked and volunteered as well. It was all fine, as long as dysphoria didn’t get too bad, he could keep up. So Peter Parker kept on working and working and working, because if he stopped, he didn’t know what to do with himself. 

___ 

“So, how much does the legal team hate me.” Pepper asked Joan, groaning. Stakeholder meetings and most of the time she had to be professional. She just… clicked with Joan. Was able to let her guard down when they were together. When they were together Pepper was still the boss, but the PR team was also kind of Pepper’s manager for social interaction and had saved Tony and her more times than she could count. It led to Pepper having the opportunity to discuss things as friends. No fancy jargon. No niceties. If she messed up, she would hear it. It was refreshing. 

The R&D department was Tony’s baby, but to get results from there she would need to be the boss and remind them of deadlines. Legal had some great people but there were also enough that if she let her guard down, they would find dirt on her or something like that. But they needed those lawyers so they combined the amazing nice ones with the strict slippery ones, it created a balance. Accounting always came with endless numbers and so on. The only place she could get away with something like this, she felt, was the PR team. So she took that opportunity and used it to the fullest. 

“Well,” they replied “I’m pretty sure after this is done they will be checking whether asking them this was even legal but they are working and they managed to give us some dates. One week from now,” they started writing on a whiteboard the expected planning “they should have the deals finished for at least half of our expected locations with the opportunity to immediately start decorating. The other half the discussion is still ongoing or they are waiting for a contract to end. Two weeks from now they expect us to legally be able to house homeless teenagers. To make it a safe haven like churches have right now will take a bit longer but people can have a roof over their heads and a hot meal in their stomach in the meantime. We had to compromise in our budget to make it work faster but in two weeks we should have our first shelters ready.” 

Pepper sighed in relief. She didn’t create an impossible task. “Two weeks. That’s amazing. Can we… Should we announce that? That we expect it to launch in two weeks? Or should we wait till like the day before so we are almost certain that it can open the next day?” 

Joan started twirling in their chair. “I think… I don’t know yet. I was mainly busy responding to the social media, didn’t think they could actually manage two weeks.” 

“If I may. We could spread the news in the homeless community or on forums or Tumblr. Try to speak directly to those affected. The official announcement will come the day before or so. Press conference announcing the project with questions.” Kai made a point to stare at Pepper a bit longer before continuing. “Make it so those in need already know that they have something to live towards, ration towards I guess, and the media will know that yes it is aimed at LGBTQ+ kids. No it is not solely for them. We ask for a safe environment for them and create a community with it, we will help those not in the community, but try to find them better locations instead of this safe haven for these kids.” 

“That could work. Yeah that should work. Thank god for you Kai. I knew it was a good idea to have someone more of their age here and you seemed the perfect fit. Okay. Plan is to accumulate ways to communicate to the community. Write this down please, Fri?” 

“Of course Joan, it’s my pleasure.” FRIDAY responded. 

“Thanks dear. We need to draft a statement to the press and find some key speakers. I think both you Pepper but also Tony should make an appearance. See if we can find an employee or something that can help with visualize what it will be like in the shelters.” 

“Prepare for the possible backlash.” Kai added. 

“Right, prepare for the possible people who might not like it that kids get helped after they don’t have a home anymore due to their sexuality or gender.” Joan reiterated, the disgust evident in her voice. 

Pepper started wrecking her own brain. “Can we have like… Not a competition but an aid project that shows that we are not just providing them a roof, we are also providing them opportunities?” 

Joan looked intensely at her. “Miss Pepper Potts. Are you…. It’s a good idea but… Oh fine. We’ll get some people on that.” 

“Katy would love that, Joan.” Kai said. 

“Yeah, of course. I think that’s it. If we think of anything else we can just tell FRIDAY anyways. Kai, can you tell Katy to join me in my office in like ten minutes? I need to get a cup of coffee first, stretch my legs. Pepper, don’t you have a meeting in like... “ They looked at their watch. “5 minutes, that is all the way over at the end of the hall in legal? Don’t ask me how I know, just go and run.” 

With that, they parted ways. All trying to prepare for the inevitable storm that was coming. They all knew they had a tough few weeks ahead of them with a lot of hard work. 

___ 

Pepper was in a meeting with the legal team, apologizing profusely for what she had done. Luckily for her, they were not too upset. Irritated sure, but they all knew that Stark Industries took care of their employees and they would be compensated in some form or another for their hard work. It also helped that they were passionate about this project as well. It was just not ideal that they had to give up a negotiation position because they were getting desperate due to the increased pressure to start the initiative. 

Pepper was in the meeting with the legal team, that is, until the meeting was interrupted by FRIDAY. “Miss Potts, if I may have your attention. We have a priority 2 situation, and this meeting is priority 4.” The legal team looked around uneasily. Normally their meetings were priority 6, priority 5 if they were lucky. A priority 2 situation was almost always a suspected medical or security emergency. 

“Go, miss Potts. We have enough work to do, just drop on in if you manage to get some free time later.” The head of the department said. Even he knew better than to argue about a priority difference of that size. This meeting was important but whatever was currently happening had to be more important. If something happened that would only mean more work for them so either way they knew this meeting could wait a few hours. A priority 2 almost always could not. 

As soon as Pepper stepped outside of the conference room, she asked FRIDAY to tell her the situation using her earpiece. 

“If my sensors are correct, Boss has not slept for approximately 56 hours. He used the override code ‘What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger’ to prevent me from notifying you at the 36 hour mark. It appears however, that Boss is experiencing hallucinations. I have already stopped all machinery, but I cannot stop him from writing equations on a whiteboard like he is currently doing. I would also like to remind you that you are currently on hour 35 of no sleep.” FRIDAY told her. Oh hell no. On top of having to deal with her slip-up that moved up deadlines by more than a month, she also now had to make sure her idiot partner didn’t self-destruct. 

She arrived at the lab to a mumbling Tony who had moved from the overfull whiteboard to writing equations in the soot that had accumulated near one of the machines. It appears that DUM-E had stood in the way of Tony because he was beeping sadly behind the glass of one of the cages that sometimes housed the Iron Man suits. 

She slowly approached him. “Tony?” Tony looked up from the equation. “What is so important that you have gone 56 hours without sleep?” 

“Uh the thingy. The badingadong. The Fairy Godmother.” Tony rambled. Pepper tried to figure out what he was talking about. Fairy…. Godmother…. What was he…. The AI for the employees. 

“You mean the AI? The self-care AI. The AI that makes sure that people at Stark industries are healthy. That AI?” She asked, already wondering if he saw the irony in this. 

Stark looked at her like she was crazy. “Yes. Yes that AI. Why are you so surprised. We needed it like, yesterday. Especially with the stress of that homeless project coming up in a month or two. Pepper froze. He didn’t know. Of course he didn’t. When he went into these binges he got detached from reality. 

“First of all… About that homeless project. I switched things up for PR. During the announcement of the new Head of PR, I created a PR nightmare. The reporter was just so annoying and I might’ve lashed out, spilled the beans about the project and not accepted any questions. I was just in a meeting with PR and after that legal when FRIDAY notified me of your sleep. The date is going to be moved up to two weeks from now.” 

“Oh that’s grand. Bet the head of PR hates you now. The last one sure did hate me.” Tony’s eyes started drooping now that he had stopped. “But don’t worry, I love you more than enough to compensate for them.” 

Pepper started guiding him to their bedroom. “Actually, no they don’t. They are amazing and don’t blame me. It’s not the moment they’d have liked their first PR disaster to be, but they faced it head on. I like them a lot, I can relax around them.” 

Tony’s mind was visibly processing something. “One second. The ummm. The head of PR. Am I picking up on they/them pronouns?” 

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Yes Tony. They are non-binary. I know I am the CEO of the company and that you weren’t involved in hiring them, but I am sure I told you.” 

“Probably though ‘Oh that’s awesome’ and then continued on doing stuff. Didn’t save in my mind. Okay. Head of PR. They/them. Fri, be a dear and remind me to practice singular they/them in relation to the head of PR? After I am done with the AI of course.” Tony moved to head back to his lab but Pepper made sure he couldn’t leave. 

“Oh no you won’t 56 hours and you were hallucinating according to Friday. The AI can’t be properly tested for another 3 weeks anyway. Is there something that you need to remember that you were trying to fix?” 

Tony looked at her with a blank stare. He really was out of it. “Loss function. Something is wrong with it. It has to be fixed.” 

“You heard that, Fri? Once Tony is safe to return to work duties you have to remind him that he was working on the loss function. Oh, please send someone to jot down the equations Tony wrote in the soot. Afterwards DUM-E can be released from his containment.” Pepper said to the AI and they had finally arrived at their bedroom. Pepper turned to Tony. “We need to talk when you are able to think clearly. Before you return to your lab, you need to have spoken with me. Do you understand?” Tony nodded. “Fri, make sure he can’t access his lab unless it’s for emergencies. No override codes.” Tony pouted. 

“Absolutely. Sleep well Boss. Sleep well Boss Lady.” FRIDAY responded. Pepper wanted to object but she knew now was not the time to be a hypocrite. It was almost midnight, an hour or 6 of sleep could be arranged. If she started hallucinating as well, they were in even more trouble. 

After sending out a message to the legal team that she would be unavailable for 6 hours and instructing FRIDAY to send everyone that was not working on a time sensitive matter to go to sleep, Pepper joined an already passed out Tony in bed. Her alarm was set for 6AM and FRIDAY would wake her if she was absolutely needed. 

She slept. It wasn’t by any means enough, but it was long enough for now. Maybe she could have a power nap during lunch or something. The priority was currently on the project. Normally she would choose health over work, but she was the one that messed this up and now a lot of other people were paying the price. She couldn’t sleep well knowing that there were other people overworking themselves because of her mistakes. So she slept 6 hours, that was reasonable, especially after not sleeping for 35. At least she knew that it was an odd one out. All nighters weren’t but not sleeping for days were pretty uncommon for her. 

Tony on the other hand… She could see him deteriorating. He didn’t mean to, he just got this way if his self esteem was plummeting for whatever reason. He would value everyone above himself and hope that they would like him if he made them things. Bought them things. That is at least what her therapist had guessed during one of her latest sessions. It seemed logical, she knew Tony’s brain sometimes convinced him of things that weren’t true. This was his coping. The coping just wasn’t very healthy if it was combined with 56 hour binges. 

Pepper was almost entirely dressed already when Tony started to stir. He should be sleeping more but they both knew that wasn’t going to happen, so she went to make them both a cup of coffee. As soon as he walked in, she hadn’t him his and motioned for him to sit down next to her on the couch. 

“Pepper, dear, when is the last time I told you I loved you?” Tony said, with a grin on his face as he gulped down the coffee. 

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Yesterday. Or well, today. When I had to leave a priority 4 meeting because someone hadn’t sleep for 56 hours and had started hallucinating.” Tony’s eyes went wide. “Yeah, that happened.” Pepper said, slightly annoyed. 

“I’m sorry isn’t going to get me out of this one, is it?” Tony tried. 

Pepper had to supress a smile. “No. No, it isn’t. There are a few things that are going to happen. First, I want to know whether this was initiated by your brain or just because you had a breakthrough and didn’t want to lose the momentum.” 

“Oh, I kind of had a breakthrough. Not exactly, because it didn’t work but I was trying out whether I should split the data into 70 / 30 instead of 80 / 20 because I felt like the reason it wasn’t as accurate as I wanted because it was overcomplicating the model and then I tho-“ Tony started to ramble before Pepper interrupted him. 

“Good to hear you might have a way to improve it. I am not that good at Artificial Intelligence to know what you are talking about after just waking up from 6 hours of sleep. You can tell me all about it later once we are both awake and don’t have high priority meetings to get to. I just needed to check whether there was a problem we needed to address.” Pepper explained. 

A sigh and then she continued. She was way too tired to have to watch her words like this. “You say there isn’t, we continue to the next thing. This.” She gestured to him. “This is not healthy. I truly believe you are trying but I’m not the best measurement of what you should live like. I believe, and just hear me out on this, that you need to be responsible FOR someone.” Tony started to stammer but Pepper interrupted him by continuing. “I asked for you to hear me out. This is not a kid showing responsibility by taking care of a dog. This will most likely be like… a symbiotic relation. I don’t know, biology was way too long ago. Basically mentor someone. You pick a kid, whoever as long as it’s not illegal for them to work here, or can’t be made legal for them to work here if you really want them.” 

Tony looked troubled. “But. What if I ruin them. What if I don’t change. What if the only thing I do is show them how someone they look up to really is. I am a living self-destruct button Pepper.” 

Pepper took him in her arms. “First things first, you are not a living self-destruct button. You have self-destructive tendencies, but you are capable of creating so much and someone who has brought so much good to the world, can hardly be a living embodiment of something that destroys things. But if you truly believe that, pick someone that has no way but up. Pick someone who has so much potential but you are their only hope of using it. You get to pick, pick someone who you feel comfortable with. Pick someone that will help you become a better person.” Tony slowly nodded. 

“Now you still have not slept enough. But you have just drank coffee so I can’t expect you to sleep now. But I can expect you to rest. So we are going to wrap you into a burrito and put on a show. I am going to go back to work because I need to fix the dumpster fire I made myself. I’ll check in with you if I get a break but I am always one call away. If you are bored, start thinking of how you want to select who to mentor out of all the people in the world. Want to go to high schools, want to make people take a quiz. Go wild.” 

With faked reluctancy Tony allowed himself to be rolled into a burrito with one of his favourite blankets. Pepper put on a the great British bakery because it was a wholesome cooking show and she hoped it would ease Tony’s anxiety. Hopefully this mentoring thing would help because even though to the outside world and usually the Avengers Tony was the picture perfect copy of someone who oozed confidence, Pepper knew it was all an act and Tony was a wreck on the inside. They were working on it. She wasn’t perfect either. She just hoped Tony’s mind would quiet down soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, I dont know when next chapter is going to be out. But it should feature some domestic avengers, a bunch of peter and some interaction using social media. Alright, see you next time and don't forget to comment and leave kudo's if you wanna make my year!


	3. C3 - Of blanket burritos and normal burritos

Peter didn’t sleep until 4:30 AM which happened before when patrol got out of hand – He couldn’t just walk away from a burning building, could he? – But this time it wasn’t because patrol got out of hand. It was because he was anxious about May being in the hospital, him being home alone – He was Spider-man, why would he be scared to be home alone? – and this resulted in his brain going a thousand miles a minute and him seeking distraction by trying to invent something so that’s how at 4:30 AM he was sitting with fully drawn-out blueprints for a Baymax-like caretaker that was more compact. It probably was something that was already done, or didn’t even work or- or-…. It didn’t even matter. It was not like he could actually get the resources to make it. At least it distracted him for a while. On the plus side, now his brain was calmed down enough to go to sleep.  
  
Peter felt weird waking up. The apartment was quiet. Normally there would at least be… something. He knew Aunt May was at the hospital and there were plenty of times where she had an early morning shift that she was already gone but somehow today it stood out to him. He hated it. Hated it being so quiet in their apartment. Hated how alone he felt. It wasn’t like she was gone, she was just… working an extremely long shift at the hospital. That was it. As long as he just believed it, all would be okay.  
  
(He didn’t believe it in the slightest)  
  
____  
  
Peter had slept around two and a half hours, which was way to little to be dealing with this. Still, even with enough sleep, who thought it would be a good idea to start the day with gym class. At least Peter had his powers so it wasn’t as exhausting for him as before the spider bite but on the other hand, he had to struggle to keep his powers in control which was also exhausting so either way. It was a terrible idea for them to plan gym class for first and second period.  
  
“Parker, keep it up. You want to be a boy, then run like one.” The gym teacher yelled. Oh you try running with a binder on – there was no way he was going in without one – but it didn’t matter to that teacher. His idea of masculinity was already so old school that the museum is asking him to describe his views so they can write a description of the gender roles in the 1920’s. Kidding, of course. About the museum part, not about his views.  
  
It wasn’t like he wasn’t proud of being trans. If the world was perfect he’d share it because it gave him an unique perspective. But the world wasn’t perfect and so when he had been forced to share he was trans, it resulted in the teacher treating him like THAT. He often wondered what would happen if he would be proud as trans as Spider-man. He was sure a lot of people would be happy to be represented by a superhero but on the other hand there would be bigoted people who would ruin the escape that Spider-man was to him. So he couldn’t. Maybe if he had had top surgery or something. When him being a guy was not up for debate at all. When he looked and sounded like a guy. When the word she was not a dagger in his gut. Maybe then. But not now. For now there was Peter Parker, the nerdy trans boy and Spider-Man, the hero that nobody debated was a guy.  
  
Peter survived another gym class. After the running he had to suffer through a game of dodgeball where he had to ignore his spidey senses while Flash threw ball after ball after ball at him. “Hey Parker! I heard you don’t have any balls, here have some!” It could have been funny if he didn’t know that it came from a place of unacceptance. So he just took the hits and hurried to get changed after practice so he didn’t have to spend too long in the locker room.  
  
____  
  
The one thing that everybody loves after just being physically exhausted by gym class, is being mentally exhausted during English class. All he asked was one lesson where they didn’t have to find a reason for the author to describe something as yellow. Sometimes things were just yellow. Sometimes the reason was because the author was writing and needed a colour and saw a sunflower and thought ‘Oooh yellow that is a good colour.’ But no such luck.  
  
At least the rest of the day would be topics he excelled at. He needed to make some more web fluid and his chemistry class was next, so he didn’t have to wait long. What was the teacher talking about again? Oh, right the homework, maybe he should write this down.  
  
Chemistry class was a breeze. He made some new web fluid, he got called on by the teacher and even though he could finish the assignment before the class had even ended and the teacher had said his work was excellent. Physics class was after that and while the teacher was busy explaining centripetal force, Peter had already been using it when he designed his web shooters where he was currently adapting the calculations for. He was trying to calculate whether he could create more force by reducing the friction somehow and whether it was worth it to compromise his web shooters like that. Because if they broke, he had a huge problem. So he had to calculate it.  
  
“Peter, can you name an example aside from the movement of the planets of how centripetal forces are impacting our world?” The teacher asked him.  
Peter sat up straight. “Well whenever a car rounds a corner, centripetal forces make it so the car doesn’t fly out of the corner. A rollercoaster loop is also dependent on centripetal forces and when spinning a lasso you enact a centripetal force on it.” The teacher looked disappointed that they couldn’t catch him in the act of not paying attention and continued with the lesson. Peter continued with the calculations that were probably more advanced than his physics teacher could comprehend.  
The rest of the day was pretty straightforward, talking to Ned and MJ, being either bored by the subject they are teaching or already knowing what was being taught, sneers from Flash, a normal day. But unlike an actual normal day, after Decathlon practice Peter immediately ran out to change in an alley and swing to the hospital.  
  
____  
  
Tony was still sitting on the couch, wrapped as a burrito when the first avenger walked into the common room. It was Steve who had just come back from his morning run. He took a look at Tony, took a look at the blanket that was wrapping him and continued towards the fridge. “Want anything, Stark? Something to eat? Some more coffee?” He asked as he grabbed his own protein shake. Luckily he was looking at Tony so he could see him shake his head. Talking was too exhausting right now. A nod from Steve who then walked back to the elevator. “I’m going to take a shower. Bucky will probably make breakfast as soon as he wakes up so if you don’t want anything now you could wait for that.” A nod from Tony. “Huh, no snarky remarks? You really are out of it. Well, if you need anything just have FRIDAY notify me.” Another nod and Steve stepped into the elevator.  
  
The next avenger who he saw that morning was Natasha Romanoff. She was wearing his hoodie – He knew it was his hoodie because it had his name stitched onto it. – and raised a coffee cup up to him with a raised eyebrow. He shook his head so she just filled one for herself and joined him on the couch to watch TV with him.  
  
As Steve had said, Bucky immediately started making breakfast as soon as he got downstairs. Probably had a rough night then, baking usually helped him with that. Not to enjoy his suffering but he was glad because it meant he didn’t have to make breakfast for himself. So not much later Bucky brought Natasha and him their standard breakfast order. It was really good and it made Tony feel a bit better.  
  
It appeared the time without sleep had taken out more of him than he expected because even though he didn’t realise it, he had fallen asleep. He only realised he had been sleeping when he was awakened by a Clint who couldn’t find his hearing aids and currently had trouble adjusting his speaking volume to an appropriate one. Tony sleepily looked around before pointing at the TV stand where the hearing aids were laying.  
  
During his brief, he thought it was brief, period of dozing off, the TV had been changed to show a documentary of what goes on inside the mind of cult leaders. It was interesting enough that he kept watching it and it eventually woke him up, which was helped by the coffee that Natasha brought him once he sat up a bit straighter. He had to ask her someday how she just… knew things like that.  
  
Regardless, Tony really started feeling better, like his brain was starting up again. Enough to remember that Pepper wanted him to mentor someone. So he needed to make a way to pick someone. He at least needed to figure out what he wanted in a mentee. So he hopped up, still keeping himself a burrito and picked up a pad and a pen before sitting down again. Once he started writing, he just couldn’t stop. Once he finally did stop, he had the perfect plan.  
  
____  
  
Official Stark Industries @StarkIndustries  
  
As you may have heard, Stark Industries is currently working on a plan to help with the homelessness epidemic that New York and other cities are currently facing. We are currently focussing on LGBTQ+ youth, not exclusively but making sure that all shelters are at least LGBTQ+ friendly.

|Official Stark Industries @StarkIndustries  
  
The goal is to create shelters for these people to go towards so they have a safe space to go to instead of the streets. We realize that foster care isn’t ideal for all minors and for all adults we know not all shelters are as safe. We want to create these spaces.  
  
|| Official Stark Industries @StarkIndustries  
  
Currently we are finalizing the legal agreements for as many shelters as we can get for opening. Once these centers are open they will not only provide a roof above their head and make sure they are fed, but also provide guidance towards either getting the kid to move back in with their parents or towards a safe environment.  
  
||| Official Stark Industries @StarkIndustries  
  
No kid should be sleeping on the streets, especially not because of who they are. We hope this initiative will help with that. This initiative will from here on out be referred to as the Pepper Potts Foundation.  
  
==  
  
> Rock @RockTheEnby  
  
This can’t come soon enough. I can’t live on the streets but I also can’t live in this house anymore. Time to start surviving till the opening.  
| CEO of SI @PepperPotts  
  
Please DM me  
  
==  
  
> Not that Michael @MJackson  
  
Are there any confirmed locations? I don’t always have internet so I am afraid that I don’t know where one will be once they open.  
  
| CEO of SI @PepperPotts  
  
We will be spreading information both digitally and physically. Confirmed locations will be shared as soon as possible. For now though, please DM me  
==  
  
> Brainzzzz @ZomBEE  
  
Are you in need of counsellors? My friend group and I are all studying psychology and most of us have a past similar to the one the Pepper Potts Foundation is targeted at. Anywhere we can apply?  
  
| Official Stark Industries @StarkIndustries  
  
Please send your resume to the open solicitation page for Stark industries. In the special notes section please mention the Pepper Potts Foundation.  
  
|| Brainzzzz @ZomBEE  
  
Awesome, thank you. About 5 applications are coming your way!  
  
||| Official Stark Industries @StarkIndustries  
  
We are looking forward to them.  
  
___  
  
NicoNotAngelo:  
  
Hey dude, can I ask you something?

OfficialSpiderman:  
  
Sure, I’ve got time. What’s up?

NicoNotAngelo:  
  
Dysphoria is really bringing me down. Got any tips?

OfficialSpiderman:  
  
Any particular dysphoria? Physical? Mental? Social?

NicoNotAngelo:  
  
I mean… I can’t even go on a run without either want to curl into myself from the movement of my chest, or possibly damaging my ribs by exercising with a binder on. Gym class is already hell because I have to bind with a size down, but I want to run and feel alive again.

OfficialSpiderman:  
Well, KT tape binding might be a solution. It can damage your skin, but if you only use it once in a while and allow your body rest between uses, it could have a lot of pro’s.  
  
I am currently visiting someone in the hospital, so if you want we can meet somewhere after and I’ll give you a roll for you to try. 

NicoNotAngelo:  
  
That would be awesome. I’ll bring some food for you as a thank you. Any allergies?

OfficialSpiderman:  
  
Only Peppermint as far as I know. But to be sure check whether something is lethal to spiders.

NicoNotAngelo:  
  
Huh, you really are part spider. Well, I’ll send you an address later today and we can meet on the roof?

OfficialSpiderman:  
  
Sure thing. Talk to you later!

NicoNotAngelo:  
  
ttyl  
  
____  
  
When Peter was done chatting with Nico, he was just around the corner from where he could see Aunt May. He was kind of optimistic, he was able to help a friend and was going to get some food in return. Food is always nice.  
  
As soon as Peter turned the corner, he wasn’t so optimistic anymore. Whooping cough just needed antibiotics for a few days and then they would be alright. What he was seeing was not just some antibiotics. But who knows, maybe Aunt May wasn’t infected?  
  
He walked past the individually sealed cubicles to the one May was in. It didn’t seem like there was any order in them, they most likely just placed people as they were able to set up cubicles. His aunt was in between two people who looked like absolute hell. Maybe that was what made the contrast big enough for Peter to calm down. Maybe that contrast was a bad thing. He didn’t know. He didn’t know what to believe. So the best thing to do right now was just talk to May.  
  
He grabbed a chair and sat down in front of her cubicle. “Hey May. How are you doing.” He asked.  
  
“Oh I’m fine. Tell me about your day.” She said. She sounded… Tired. She coughed a few times. It didn’t ease Peter’s mind in the slightest. But he was glad that she was not as bad as her neighbours.  
  
“Well yesterday I ate some pizza from the fast Italian place around the corner, and I was able to get some pizza for breakfast this morning, so that was nice. I also had school but it was pretty boring. Decathlon practice had some good questions but I won’t bore you with them because I know it will confuse you so there’s that. Oh, I couldn’t really sleep yesterday but instead I designed this like Baymax kind of thing. You remember Baymax right? It’s from Big Hero 6, that big fluffy marshmallow. You know the one where the brother dies and you cried? We watched it like maybe two months ago?” Peter rambled.  
  
“Anyway I currently have the current design and an attempt at blueprints. I also wrote down some functions for the AI because I want to have an AI combined with it, but I am mostly afraid that I won’t have enough data to train the AI. But who knows, maybe I can bat my eyes at one of your bosses and they’ll send me the anonymised data of patients so I can train the AI.” Peter continued and May’s smiled lazily. You could see the love radiating from her face.  
  
Peter continued talking about anything and everything. But as he talked May became more and more tired even though it was only late in the afternoon. So he decided to give his aunt some rest. “I think it’s time for you to take a nap Aunt May. I need to go hand a friend of mine something anyway which I need to pick up from the medical store here in the hospital. So get some rest, keep me updated and I’ll see you tomorrow.”  
  
“Alright Petey, I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I think some sleep is indeed needed.” She said before yawning. “Goodnight in advance, I larb you.”  
  
“I larb you too, Aunt May.” Peter said and with that, he left the quarantine area.  
  
He headed over to the medical store to pick up some KT tape. It wasn’t very expensive; it wasn’t the official brand but just a regular medical tape. It was less than ten dollar and it was worth it for his friend to feel better.  
  
He sent Nico a message, asking if they could meet on the roof in about 15 minutes, which was how long it took for him to change safely and head on over to the roof. Nico messaged back that it was no problem and Peter was on his way.  
  
As Peter was swinging he saw a mugging taking place so he made a detour to stop it. He couldn’t exactly let it slide. “You know, threatening someone with a knife isn’t really nice. Don’t mind if I just…” He said, shooting a web to pull the knife away from the mugger. “YOINK”. He caught the knife and pointed it at the mugger who tried to run away.  
  
Spider-Man, however, was able to web him to a wall. “Hello Miss almost-mugged-lady! If you would be so kind to call the police and explain that this is a mugger? Thank you very much.” He said and after a hesitant nod he waved and swung away.  
  
He disposed of the knife on a roof somewhere, with no rooftop access. He arrived at the roof two minutes later than expected to see Nico already waiting. “Sorry, had to stop a mugging on the way here.” He said and Nico’s eyes widened.  
  
“Oh my god that’s so cool. Well not cool that it happened but that you are so casual about stopping a mugging. Uhhh so I got you some brownies. And a few homemade goldfish crackers because I made like 3 batches and that was too much for me to store. I also have a burrito with minced meat, cheese, sour cream, some beans…. Yeah I think that’s it.” Nico said excitedly and handed over the food. “Oh my god I am just casually talking to Spider-man. This is so unreal. I just can’t believe it.”  
  
“You better believe it. Besides, I’m just your normal dude, it just so happens that I know you through my alter-ego, I mean we would probably be friends if we had the opportunity in real life. Honestly, I’m just making completely sure I can trust you because the only people who currently know my identity are my guardian and my best friends. For me it is weird too making friends as Spider-Man. So uhh yeah.” Peter attempted to put his hands in his pockets awkwardly before realizing he was in his suit. So instead he grabbed the tape from his bag and handed it over. “Anyway, I got you this medical tape, I will send you all the tips I found when researching the stuff over discord later. This should be enough to last you awhile, I got it from the large hospital across the city, but it’s probably also available somewhere closer or online. Uhh yeah. I want to chat but I still need to patrol tonight and I don’t want to waste all this food but I want to take my mask off to eat it so I’ll send the tips in a second and I’ll talk to you later?”  
  
“Yeah, no problem. Enjoy the food and thank you so much!” Nico responded.  
  
“Anytime!” Peter yelled, swinging away to go eat the food Nico gave him and start patrol as soon as he had dropped his bag off at home.


	4. C4 - Cangaroo not Can'tgaroo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers and Spider-man fight together and are debriefed when tragedy strikes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Death of Relative, Dissociation.  
> I'll indicate when the trigger warnings start and I'll add a summary for those who can't read it.

There was a minute left towards breaking the tower’s record of 20 minutes and 31 seconds of silence between the hours of 7AM and 10PM. Usually Clint was the perpetrator because he liked the chaos caused when he broke the silence 5 seconds before the end. This time he didn’t need to though, because 30 seconds before the record might have been broken for the first time in over a year, the Avengers Assembly alarm went off and the tower was filled with chaos, sound and just a complete contrast with just seconds before. Within 2 minutes everyone was in the Quinjet, dressing hurryingly so they could go to the emergency as fast as they could, while Tony Stark was surveying the outside world to see if he could spot the emergency or fleeing citizens already.  
  
“I don’t know what is happening yet, but I see a lot of dust clouds coming from Manhattan, so that would be my guess.” He said, to which grunts of acknowledgment came from the teammates who were almost done suiting up. As soon as they were all done, they hit a button to call Fury to explain the mission.  
  
Seconds later the director was shown on a large screen in the Quinjet. “Avengers, a kangaroo-themed villain is wrecking Manhattan. We are not sure yet who or why they are currently attacking but they are displaying immense strength and can jump extremely high, so we believe the Avengers are needed if we don’t want to lose half of our police force.” He paused in case there were any immediate questions. “Anyway, your mission is to capture this hopping foe and bring them back for questioning by S.H.I.E.L.D. Evacuate the citizens, keep destruction to a minimum, and good luck. And with that he closed the connection.  
  
“Com check. One, one two, testing, testing.” Captain America spoke and everyone gave their thumbs up that they could hear him. Then they all paired up to get from the landing point to the destination. Black Widow and Hawkeye jumped on a motorcycle, while the others paired up a non-flying teammate with a flying teammate.  
  
Soon enough they saw what the director had meant. They saw a person jumping high in the air and there were already chunks out of buildings from where they missed a punch. The punches were currently directed at a vigilante they recognized as Spider-Man. He was trying to evade the rapid, boxing-style punches while also ushering as many civilians away as possible.  
  
The Avengers all looked at their captain for a command. “Stark, Wilson, evacuate people from the buildings, let’s start with a two block radius. Barton, top of whatever building you think is best, snipers position. Grab the heavy net, he might not be able to jump out from under that one. But wait for the all clear to throw that one. For now, try sniping him with your sedative arrows. Romanoff, with me on trying to get a hit in. Let me lead though, you don’t have enhanced healing. Banner, no hulking out just yet, I just need you on the medical though. Oh, and Stark, see if you can get a com connection with Spider-Man somehow?” Everyone nodded and they were off to join the fight.  
  
While Stark was getting civilians out of the buildings and being bewildered with the technology that was in Spider-Man’s suit that he could see, he had JARVIS search through all the tech he could communicate with so he could set up a com. He ended up settling for requesting permission to get a Bluetooth link so Spider-Man could download the correct program to his own suit should he wish so. “Spider-Man, I gotta ask, where’s the tech from.” He exclaimed surprised.  
  
“Uhhh, oh hello Mr Stark. I- I- Well I kind of… made them myself? Well some of them are just API’s that I used as a reference but I enhanced them and made them more safe but… The tech basically comes from me? Oh and my friend also helped.” Spider-Man responded.

Tony Stark was surprised by the voice. This was a kid. He could be 20 max if he was unlucky in the voice department, but he was probably…. 15? But he was fighting well and he obviously was smart, so Stark reminded himself to look more into this vigilante. “Anyway, I’m sending you a program to connect your suit with the other Avengers. Just so you can join our communication channel. You can disconnect whenever you want.”  
  
“Alright Mr Stark. I think that would be a good idea. Yeah… Good idea.” So Stark sent the program and within seconds he could hear the other Avengers.  
  
\---  
  
“Natasha, watch your left.”  
  
“I’m going to try to hit them mid-air.”  
  
“Stark are you done with that building yet.”  
  
“Where is our connection with Spider-Man!”  
  
Peter was a bit overwhelmed as soon as he connected to the com channel. But he heard his alter ego’s name so he got snapped out of it and responded.  
  
“Oh hi guys. Mr Stark was having some trouble because I have some good firewalls on my suit but I’m here.” Peter said, timidly.  
  
“Mr Stark? Oh that’s gold. Say kid, how old are you? Wait, nevermind, now is not the time.” Peter heard Hawkeye exclaim.  
  
“Can you help with leading the maniacal hopper to where we are headed? Hawkeye is on the top of a building with a net that we hope will keep him down.” Captain America asked.  
  
“Of course Mister Captain America Sir.” A snort came from who he assumed was Hawkeye. But he shouldn’t have looked behind him to see where they were headed because he regretted it because immediately his Spider senses started going off like crazy and before he knew he got hit right at the bottom of his ribs. He flew across the street and landed in a bush, breaking his fall. Normally he wouldn’t have continued, but his binder was currently putting pressure on the spot where he had most likely cracked a rib, making him have difficulties breathing. “I’m okay, but I have to dip out for a moment.”  
  
“Take care, Spider-Man. We got this, we just needed you to lead him here so he wouldn’t have to choose who to fight.” He heard Captain America say.  
  
Spider-Man dipped into an empty apartment and locked the bathroom door just to be sure. He quickly pushed the Spider that triggered the tightening mechanism and now he had access to his binder and could see his rapidly bruising midsection. He rolled up the binder so the pressure was lifted off the cracked ribs. He did unfortunately currently have a bit more padding on his chest where the rest of the material was laying, but he’d rather have that than no binder at all. To make it seem flatter and for extra support he used a bit of his medical webs, that were like bandages , to hold his rib in the right place without putting pressure on it. Another push on the spider to tighten again and he was off to join the fight again.  
  
“Alright, where do you need me!” He said to the com channel.  
  
“Come help fight the Kangaroo. Cap got hit against a wall while you were down and most likely has a concussion. We just need to have him get hit by one of Hawkeye’s arrows with tranquilizer in them.” Black Widow said and he swung over to join the fight. The pain was still evident, but he couldn’t let them, the Avengers, down.  
  
Luckily it only took two shots for Hawkeye to hit the Kangaroo who calmed down enough to be trapped by this large net with heavy weights. A normal person would never be able to lift it once it was deployed, and in this case, a tranquilized Kangaroo couldn’t either.  
  
Sounds of victory sounded through the com channel and the Black Widow clapped him on the shoulder and steered him towards the Quinjet. Peter, who was still bewildered by how it was suddenly done, and he had helped the Avengers, didn’t notice what was happening until he was ushered inside the Quinjet.  
  
“Where. Ummm. Miss Black Widow? Where are we going? I need to get back to scho- home. Make sure my ribs are fine and all that.” Peter asked and he received a quirked eyebrow to which he quickly corrected himself to not give away his age.  
  
Black Widow urged him to sit down on a chair in the Quinjet. “We are going to debrief first and make sure you are cleared by medical. Like it or not, you were part of the fight so you have to be at the debriefing.” He nodded and she continued. “After that you can go back to scho- home. Yes I caught that, but I won’t say anything. You can also just keep your mask on, don’t listen to Fury if he demands you do. Just intimidation tactics. Honestly, if you really don’t want Fury to know, I’ll mention to Tony how infuriated he would be. Tony will jump at the chance to annoy Fury.”  
  
“That would… Thank you Miss Black Widow.” He responded and she stood up before returning with some chips. He hesitantly accepted and lifted a bit of his mask of to start eating, knowing that it would help him heal faster. He was also hungry but that might just be because he had to swing from Midtown to Manhattan and then fight against a highly agile Kangaroo like creature. That tends to burn some energy.  
  
\----  
  
“Non-Avenger identified. Visual recognition: Spider-Man. Miss Romanoff, are you aware he is accompanying you?” A voice sounded through the rooftop.  
  
Peter looked around. “Is that FRIDAY? Oh that’s awesome. I can’t believe I’m on top of Stark Tower. I mean I have read through the schematics but to actually be here?”  
  
“Yeah, FRI, that’s Spider-Man and he’s with us. Debriefing.” The Black Widow responded, already stripping off some of her weapons belt and throwing it in a bin, probably for cleaning or testing, Peter remarked internally.  
  
Peter looked around, taking it all in. He followed the Black Widow towards a conference room where the rest of the avengers were already sitting, looking exhausted. He didn’t expect his hero, Tony Stark, to drop his head to the table and let out a loud groan.  
  
“What is it now, Stark?” Hawkeye snapped.  
  
“I just realized, Mr grumpypants, that one of the shops that we evacuated and that had their ventilation duct punched in, was the good Chinese. You know, the one that made Nat moan once?” Mr Stark replied and earned a glare from the Black Widow, who Peter guessed was called Nat. “Oh calm down Natasha, it is a good indicator.” Or Natasha, Peter thought, adjusting his guess.  
  
“Well then you make a big donation so it gets fixed by next week or something and we’ll just get some shawarma today. Big deal.” Hawkeye snarked back, obviously not impressed by the Mr grumpypants remark.  
  
Mr Stark made a dismissive motion and laid his head down on his arms, the adrenaline from battle obviously having taken a toll on him.  
  
His other hero, Bruce Banner, was currently on the other side of the room doing a medical evaluation on Captain America. That is, until the relative tranquillity of the room was interrupted by a… pirate? It was an imposing man with an eyepatch.  
  
“Avengers, Spider-Man, good job today. The Kangaroo has been captured and already been identified as Frank Oliver, an Australian that is like the Mowgli of Kangaroos. As for the motive we are still unsure.” Eyepatch man started to talk.  
  
Spider-Man interrupted him though. “Uhm Mr… Eyepatch Sir?” A laugh marked by a cough from Mr Stark and by a sneeze by Hawkeye interrupted his interruption. Eyepatch man glared at the too before focussing back on Spider-Man. “His motive was probably because I interrupted his robbery. He was robbing the ummm…. That big bank? I don’t know whether it is just Manhattan Bank or if it has a special name but yeah. I heard about someone robbing the bank and that they were already destroying things to assert dominance and stuff. Which is weird, why would you have to destroy things to assert dominance? But anyway yeah I heard about that and how the police was being held up somewhere else. So I went to check it out but it made him angrier so I led him outside because less damage outside I thought but he damaged more things, because the alternative was damaging me which I kind of didn’t feel like. So I think we have motive covered?”  
  
Eyepatch man let out a low hum. “Alright. We got identity, motive and they are in custody. What went wrong? Any arguments that impacted the fighting? Tech that broke?”  
  
“Stark, could you have told me that you adjusted the tranquilizer arrows? I missed a shot because of you.” Hawkeye snapped. That’s probably why he was so grumpy, at least that’s what Peter hoped.  
  
Stark snapped upright. “I did, Barton. You asked for the adjustment, I did the adjustment, I gave them back to you and told you exactly how I adjusted it. I sent you an e-mail, knowing that you wouldn’t even read it. It’s not my fault you didn’t train with them because you were too busy playing Mario Kart.” He exclaimed.  
  
“I would have remembered if you did. But fine, it’s in the past.” Hawkeye mumbled.  
  
“Next time I’ll just have FRIDAY remind you every hour till you practice with them, that good?” Mr Stark said jokingly.  
  
But Hawkeye quickly sat up straighter. “That… that would actually be nice. Thank you.”  
  
Eyepatch man clapped in his hands. “Now we got that out of the way, anything else?”  
  
“Widow bites got tangled up and short circuited or something? Suffice to say, they are broken.” Natasha mentioned.  
  
“Okay, we have the perpetrator, we have motive, we have arguments, we have broken tech…. medical. Who got hurt? How long are they out of the running?”  
  
Bruce piped up from the back of the room. “Steve has a concussion. He’ll probably be fine by the end of the week but someone will need to clear him before he goes back on the field.”  
  
Peter looked around. He wasn’t sure whether he should say something, until Natasha poked him and waved at the screen. “Oh uh. I have like… I think I cracked a rib, maybe two. But I will be fine by tomorrow.” Peter said and Bruce perked up.  
  
“You have super healing as well? Fascinating. Let me guess, enhanced metabolism?” Bruce asked. Peter just nodded. “Well if you allow me, I would love to research your capabilities sometimes soon. But only if you consent.”  
  
Peter was hesitant but he did answer. “I think that would be fine, as long as I can keep my secret identity.” Bruce nodded to the answer and smiled. Before anybody could continue though, Peter’s suit display lit up. “Karen, can you answer that please?”  
  
“Who is Ka-“ Bruce remarked but Peter shushed him.  
  
  
  
[tw death of relative, dissociation]  
  
  
  
“Hey June. What’s” Peter answered the phone.  
  
“Peter, I think you should come to the hospital. Your aunt, she is in critical condition. A code blue was just called and they managed to get her breathing again but just in case…” June said and if his mask was off the Avengers could have seen him pale as white as paper.  
  
“I’m on my way. Thanks June.” Peter replied, holding back tears and Karen ended the call. “I- I- I gotta…” Peter started near hyperventilating.  
  
Mr Stark stood up. “Where to, kiddo?”  
  
Peter wanted to protest but he knew Mr Stark could get him there faster than any swinging he could do, with or without cracked ribs. “Queens Hospital.” He saw all the avengers frown and pulled Peter along with him.  
  
\----  
  
“I got clothes and a backpack in the trunk, you change in the back seat and I won’t watch you walk away. Do you need a ride back?” Peter shook his head. “Alright, then if you need me, you just connect with the com channel in your suit and I’ll have JARVIS or FRIDAY listening for you.”  
  
They drove in silence for the most part, and Peter was in fight or flight mode. His aunt… What if she didn’t make it. He would have no one left. He- He felt numb. She wasn’t gone yet and he already felt numb. He wasn’t even sure if Mr Stark asked him anything, he might not have heard it over the numbness. Mr Stark probably said something because before he knew it he was shaken and he realized they were in front of the hospital.  
  
He felt like he was on autopilot, moving towards the trunk and moved to the ally to change. He blinked and he was inside the hospital already, not really sure how he got there but every step was a mental control to move his foot and he was glad he didn’t have to do that for the trip towards here. Or he did but just couldn’t remember it. Either way he was kind of glad for that blackout.  
  
When he wants to enter the quarantine room they won’t let him though. He is abruptly aware of the code blue that is currently going on and from June’s face he could tell it was his aunt. It all seems to go like in the movies. The code blue being shouted is all he hears, he hears the rapid heartbeat before he hears a long, final beep and he doesn’t know whether it is immediately after or that minutes have passed but June comes to hug him and he knows it’s over. His aunt is gone. He couldn’t even say goodbye.  
  
Peter dissociates even more from that point.  
  
“Pete, Pete look at me.” Oh someone is talking to me. He looks up. It’s June. “CPS is on their way. It will all be okay, you don’t have to arrange a thing unless you want to.” He didn’t know what she was talking about but he knew unconsciously that he should shake his head.  
  
Someone was talking again. How long had he been sitting here? How did he even get here? All he knew was that she was dead. His aunt was dead and – Talking. Focus Peter. “-ere is a couple who are willing to take you in for emergency placement for a week. I’ll be looking for a more permanent placement for you after that.” A number was pushed into his hand together with his… someone’s… backpack. It was the backpack he had taken to the hospital but he couldn’t remember who it was from.  
  
He was outside, being ushered into a car. Where was he going again? It was like all information was locked away. He knew it but even his thoughts had slowed down. He wasn’t sure if he liked it. His thoughts weren’t always nice, but being unable to think also wasn’t ideal.  
  
“I have a trashbag for you. Pack the essentials you need for a week. Your aunt had paid in advance for two months so as long as we sort this out before then, nothing will go wrong. You could put it in a storage locker or something. We’ll see how it turns out moneywise whether that’s an option.”  
  
“This is Peter Parker. His aunt just died and he doesn’t have any family to take him in. Here’s his file. He has my number, I’ll pick him up as soon as I have an immediate placement or once the week is up.” Peter placed his bag down. All he wanted to do was just sleep for a few hours. He had no clue what was going on anymore. Luckily the next time he blinked he was curled up in bed. Hopefully he hadn’t missed anything important.  
  
\----  
  
Nico was about to cry. They were flat. Their chest was flat. And they could move, run, without issue. They were so happy they could burst. Nothing could ruin this day. They were free.  
  
Nico was blissfully unaware of what one of their friends was going through, coincidentally only a few floors above where they lived.  
  
\----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm evil, I know. Hopefully you did enjoy it though.
> 
> Summary of the trigger-warning part:  
> Aunt may is in critical condition, Tony brings Peter to the hospital and has him change into spare clothing and grab a backpack to put the suit in. Peter dissociates. Aunt may passes away before Peter can see her. CPS picks him up and he gets placed into an emergency placement for a week. His aunt has paid 2 months in advance so the apartment needs to be sorted out before that.


	5. C5 - The calm after the storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry? Depression is fun + I had to finish up some school work but now I am off for like 2 weeks before my new semester starts so I have a bit more time to write.
> 
> Okay I don't think this one has any trigger warnings but if it does, please let me know and I'll add them!

Tony had returned to the tower, Spider-man having left the car and against their curiosity they had held up their end of the agreement of not watching them and leaving after they picked up a backpack. They couldn’t deny their concern, but they didn’t want to violate his privacy when they had done nothing to justify it and they had only just met.  
  
It just didn’t sit right with Tony. On one hand, Spider-man did good stuff, they were invaluable to New York and obviously had supernatural abilities. But it was a kid. He was pretty sure of that. He didn’t know how old, but it was a kid, they probably had a family. A family that might not even know that there was a kid out there, fighting crime almost every night. A family that might not even know that there was a kid putting his life on the life day after day. They should be going to movies, hang out with friends, stress about homework. Not worry about whether a bullet wound might get infected or whether they could take a rest because what if something happened while they were not out there.  
  
Tony had thought that maybe his anxiety would have eased after driving the kid to the hospital, get him to his destination fast. But he just couldn’t stop the racing thoughts in his head, he didn’t know whether he got there fast enough, he didn’t know what happened and Spider-man just… seemed off when in the car. Was that how others saw him when he was out of it?  
  
What could he do for now. He didn’t know enough about Spider-man to create something for him, he should probably have FRIDAY run an analysis on Spider-man. But that took time and he needed something to do immediately. Just to stop the constant “Move. Move. MOVE.” That was happening in his head. His hand had to be occupied, he couldn’t think clearly right now if they weren’t. What had happened during the mission? Steve had gotten a concussion and Natasha’s Widows Bites had broken. Probably not the best idea to work with what was basically an upgraded taser right now. So Steve’s concussion prevention it was.  
  
“FRI, can you please run an analysis on Spider-man? Get some specs on his suit, fighting style, whatever you think is relevant, just a big infodump. Could you also give me some more info on…. Let’s start with airbags, motor helmets and the causes of concussion? Thanks!” He asked and before him appeared holograms with all he had requested and a progress bar reflecting the Spider-man analysis.  
he di   
It didn’t take long, about half an hour of research and an hour of testing to make an enhancement to Captain America’s suit helmet for better protection against head injuries. But it helped Tony release some of the anxiety that had pent up during the day.  
  
Tony prided himself on creating rooms for every avenger that fit their needs to destress after a mission. In Natasha’s case, it was a ballet room. Well it was a dance studio that was connected to a music room but could be separated but Natasha used it for ballet. It helped her relax. During ballet you needed to focus on your position, your posture or you could get lost in the music and let out pent-up emotions. Either way, it usually helped Natasha stop being hypervigilant. She still always paid attention to her surroundings, but it allowed her to relax in the Avengers Tower, to not have to check every hallway, the locks on the windows, get headaches that were the result of constantly being ready for an attack from any direction.  
  
Soft tunes floated through the air, going through the door that she purposefully left open and provided a stark contrast to the tense atmosphere that was currently occupying the shooting range. The notes of the classical music were accompanied by the near-constant sound of an arrow hitting a target. Clint was still in his Hawkeye uniform, his fingers raw from practicing. He had missed an arrow. He had missed an arrow. He of course had missed arrows before, but this wasn’t one where it was a lucky shot, this one he could have, should have hit. It was his fault; he should’ve practiced with those arrows. If he had practiced with those arrows maybe Spider-man wouldn’t have cracked a rib or Steve wouldn’t have a concussion right now. So he kept training. Load. Aim. Pull. Release. Load. Aim. Pull. Release. Load. Aim. Pull. Release. It was a simple process that he needed to master again with these arrows. He continued until he had the bullseye 50 time back-to-back. There was no room for errors, not for him.  
  
Steve was primarily very dazed. He remembered everything, but he did have a headache and couldn’t really focus on the present. He had to focus on keeping his head upright, and opening his eyes after he closed them to blink. Things you usually don’t think about were taking an unusual amount of effort. But he was fine for the most part. Bruce was taking care of him, he knew what to do, what to look for. He trusted Bruce. If only he could just sleep and not constantly be asked questions, that would be nice.  
  
___  
  
Nico did not expect to see ‘2 pizzas for one’ guy in their building. They were certain they had never seen him in their building before, but they were anxious. Besides, they didn’t feel confident enough to leave the apartment right now, not even to say hello. What if he didn’t remember them, or thought they were making fun of him or something like that.  
  
Regardless, there he was, slowly descending the stairs from one of the levels above the one their apartment was on. Something was pulling Nico to this guy, they didn’t know what it was but they just couldn’t get him out of they mind. He was, however, out of sight and Nico was left to debate what to say to introduce themselves, when, if they ever saw them again.  
  
___  
  
Peter had met his temporary foster parents yesterday, sure but he didn’t remember anything. He was with unfamiliar people, whose names he didn’t even know, at an unknown location and he didn’t even know how to act. Both at their house and just in general. How do you act when you just lost your last living relative? How do you act when just when you felt like you could breathe for a second, the air gets knocked out of your lungs.  
  
Wait, lungs. Breathe in… with ease. Alright, at least his autopilot had removed his binder. He wouldn’t put it past him to sleep in a binder over here because these people were… these people were not May. No one was May. There was no more May. He couldn’t… What would he do without his Aunt May.  
  
There was no time for grieving right now. Push it down, do it later. Do it when you know you are safe. When you know you won’t get in trouble if you didn’t do the dishes because getting out of bed was too difficult a task. First you need to do a few basic checks. Just go through the list, you can do that.  
  
Step 1: Spidey sense. It was being triggered but not extremely noticeable. It might just be anxiety though. No immediate danger though, that was good.  
  
Step 2: Check for physical pain. There was none, although most things would be gone between when he went to sleep and now.  
  
Step 3: Surroundings. He was currently in a mostly empty room, it had a closet, a desk and a bed, not much more. It had a window that showed he was on what seemed to be the 5th floor. It seemed like the roof was directly above him, and with his powers he estimated that he was able to jump from his window to the roof of the building next to his, which had a roof just a bit lower than his window. There was one door connecting this room to the rest of the apartment, and he could hear the television playing in the background on the other side.  
  
Step 4: Important possessions. His phone was on the windowsill, but it needed to be charged before he could use it. In his garbage bag was a bag of toiletries though, and he had also put his charger in there, so he plugged his phone in to charge. Binder. Where had autopilot put his binder? He looked around the room and found it laying over a chair, along with his jeans and the shirt he had been wearing. He was currently wearing a hoodie and shorts, which he deemed acceptable. After some more digging he also found his suit in a backpack in the garbage bag. So his most important possessions were covered, the rest could wait for a later moment.  
  
The checklist was complete and it was time for him to leave the relative safety of the closed room. He needed to know who he was living with and what they had said the day before. He also needed to know where exactly he was. So he took a deep breath and pushed down the doorhandle.  
  
Something he had not noticed during his checks was the smell. Someone was busying themselves in the kitchen and once he opened the door it was very noticeable. He smelled some bacon and he thought he smelled some pancakes as well. It smelled good, unlike the familiar smell of semi-burnt food that was a sign of Aunt May’s cooking. Left for the smell of food, right for the sound of the television. With a small growl of his stomach he decided it was enough of a sign to choose to head to the kitchen.  
  
In the kitchen a man was cooking wearing a kiss the chef apron. He was paying close attention to the pancakes that were poured in not too long ago, going from the slight bubbles in the batter at the top. When he noticed Peter, he turned the stove a bit lower so they didn’t need as much attention. He wiped his brow with the bottom of the apron and turned to Peter.  
  
“Hey Peter, hungry?” He asked.  
  
Peter responded with a shrug. “I guess. I don’t feel hungry but I also know that I normally would feel hungry by now so I figure my body is just a bit out of whack. It’s just… I kind of don’t really remember a lot of yesterday and I wish I could remember what was said to me when I got here but I really don’t really remember anything. Not even your names and stuff so uhh yeah. Could you maybe… if you don’t mind that is… repeat your… introduction I guess?” Peter rambled.  
  
The guy looked at the pancakes real quick before realizing what Peter was asking. “Oh, oh yeah sure. Uhm I’m Dave, that’s one. You can call me that or like Mr Byron if you would rather use a formal name. Other things you can call me as well, within reason. Uhhh I guess like don’t call me ‘Asshole’ or something like that, you get what I mean.” He started guiding Peter towards the living room. “So yeah, that’s me. We have this whole speech we give our foster kids but somehow I still can’t remember it, so I’m going to bring you to my wife, Caty, because she knows it by heart because she usually tells it. I’m not always home when kids come over, you know. Caty works from home and can take a break at any time so she usually greets the children and I join as soon as I can.” We had reached the living room. “Caty, Peter would like to hear our introduction again.” He sat him down on the couch and gave Caty a kiss. Then he returned to the kitchen.  
  
Caty gave me a once over, checking whether I was alright, he guessed. “Alright Peter, so as you just heard again, I’m Caty and that’s my husband Dave. Call us whatever you like, within reason. You currently are the only kid in the house, but we are expecting another kid later today, so you’ll meet them then.” Peter gave a small nod. “We aren’t really strict, we expect you to go to school while you are with us. Your school has given you this weekend and Monday to come to terms with all of this. After that we expect you to go to school and do your homework on time. If you want to go somewhere after that, just tell us or send us a text. We don’t have a real curfew but if you come after 11PM you need to be extremely quiet.” Another small nod. “Let us know if you are joining us for certain meals, we assume you are unless you say otherwise. You can do things such as just stream music in your room, but please respect that there are other members in this household. Any questions?” Peter shook his head.  
  
He was… this wasn’t so bad. He was only going to be here a week but he figured this was something he could deal with.  
  
“Breakfast is ready” Dave yelled from the junction between the kitchen and the dining room, which had an open connection to the living room. It was a cosy apartment with still separate spaces.  
  
Peter walked over to the table but didn’t know where to sit, there were six seats and he didn’t know whether they had standard seats, so he just stood there aimlessly. Soon enough Dave and Caty took their seats and Peter took the seat closest to them. He knew the pancakes tasted good, but he just couldn’t enjoy them. He suddenly was hit with a wave of realization and the need to cry. This need to cry made him feel dysphoric which made him want to cry and it was just an endless cycle, a cycle that he always hated but was now accompanied by grief.  
  
Peter looked at the pancakes that didn’t look remotely appetizing anymore. He hated that they had spent their time making them for them but he didn’t think he could take another bite. “Would you… I apologize but… Is it okay if I get some air? I need to clear my head. I don’t think I’ll take long but things just hit me and I’m just… I need some air. If that’s alright with you.” He said, averting their gaze.  
  
There was a small pause before Dave spoke. “That’s okay, this can be stressful. I’ll wrap up your pancakes so you can put them in the microwave if you want some when you get back. Stay safe.” Dave answered and Peter nodded in thanks and his chair scraped over the floor.  
  
Peter saw his jacket hanging next to what he assumed was the front door, the bedrooms were on the other side of the apartment. He stepped out, closed the door and let out a deep sigh.  
  
___  
  
Nico was feeling better, a lot better actually. They had had to make a phone call and their voice dysphoria normally made them hate every second of it. But although the call needed access to some of their legal information, they had called them a Sir at the start of the call and when they saw the legal information, they didn’t switch to Miss like they were used to but just didn’t use any formal gendered indicators and they loved it.  
  
A package had also come in with a new masculine necklace, one with a padlock on it and they were feeling confident in their fit. A denim jacket, a vest, a graphic t-shirt, and black ripped jeans. It was a fit that looked good on all their transition goals and they loved how it looked on them right now.  
  
So when they looked outside and saw the guy they were too anxious to approach coming back up the stairs, stopping outside their apartment to take a call, they gathered all their courage to open the door once the call was done.  
  
And as fate would have it, the guy slid down the wall when the call was done, giving Nico opportunity to sit next to him. “Hey, uhhh I don’t know If you remember me, but I was your server two days ago and I didn’t see you here before so I figured I’d come introduce myself again because you seem nice. So Nico, they/them please.”  
  
The guy looked up from his depressed state. “Oh hey. I’m Peter. He/him. Yeah, I remember you. I thought you were nice too. Sorry, kind of had a rough day yesterday and I just went out for some air. Just got a call that I forgot I was supposed to be somewhere and just… It’s a lot. A friendly face like yours helps though.”  
  
Peter. They liked that name, it fit him well. They were glad they introduced themselves to Peter.  
  
___  
  
Peter had walked around the block and it did help. He had climbed on top of a rooftop and cried a bit, but now he was back to repressing his emotions. He was just climbing up the stairs of the building he was temporarily able to call home when his phone started ringing. He looked and it said ‘Homeless Shelter’. What did they… Oh god.  
  
“Heya I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize I had a shift today until you called and I am just so sorry!” He said as soon as he picked up the phone.  
  
A chuckle was heard on the other side of the line. “No worries Peter, we love having you here, we were just worried when you didn’t show up.”  
  
“Yeah, I have just had a crazy few days and my sense of days is completely gone and I just forgot. You know what? I can help tomorrow, can you use my help tomorrow?” He attempted to remedy the situation.  
  
“You know we can always use the help, even you just chatting with the people here helps morale. Drop on in when you want, you know the timetable.”  
  
“Thank you Mister Yega, I won’t let you down. See you tomorrow.” Peter exclaimed.  
  
Before he could hang up Mister Yega responded. “See you tomorrow kiddo, we’ll be waiting for you.” Then he hung up. Peter was exhausted from the anxiety from the call, he slid down the wall and just sat there until he heard a familiar voice.

  



	6. C6 - Getting priorities straight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically Peter tries to find traces of normal, Tony starts to create the internship test, Peter tells MJ and Ned and everything finally catches up to Peter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for my absence. Depression is fun :) 
> 
> Anyways, I will put [tw: {warning}] where the trigger warning starts this chapter and put some info that you missed in the end notes. The trigger warning continues until the end of the chapter.
> 
> If you find anything I forgot to trigger, please tell me.

As soon as he had gotten back to the apartment, he had told his carers about his situation with the homeless shelter, to which they reacted very enthusiastic. So of course, it was no problem for him to go to the homeless shelter the following day to help. They even offered to see if they could help him, but he told them he’d rather not, have a sense of normal for a bit. They didn’t blame him.  
  
So that’s where he stood, the following day. He stood in front of the door to the homeless shelter when he saw one of the regulars approaching. It was a mother and her child and due to a relative with influence at the government thwarting them, they were living on the streets. Peter always made sure to give them a generous amount of food. He tried to give everyone enough food, but there were a few people he knew that really needed it, such as children and teens, so he tried to help out where he could. As long as there was enough for everybody, he didn't feel guilty about it.  
  
“Hey Ami, how are you and my favourite dinosaur doing?” Peter asks, holding open the door to let them in.  
  
Ami looked up and smiled. “Hey Peter, we didn't see you yesterday. Everything alright?”  
  
Peter smile faltered ever so slightly before regaining itself. “Yeah, I’m fine. Family emergency. I’m here now to make up for it though!” He looked out into the street whether he saw anyone else approaching but he didn’t and stepped inside with them, letting go of the door.  
  
“There you are, Pete! Can you catch up with Ami and Ay Ay while manning that stove over there?” Abu asked and Peter nodded. “Good to see you, kiddo.” Abu ruffled Peter's hair and ran off to solve an issue.  
  
Peter walked over to the grill, on it was a large pot of potatoes, probably almost ready for mashing seeing as it was almost time to start handing out the food. “Any luck finding housing?” He asks Ami.  
  
Ami sighs and sets down a struggling toddler. “Not really, most of the shelters are either government controlled or full. But I have put my name here and there and I just keep going back every day or two, hoping that something opens up.” Peter nods his head in understanding. She didn't deserve this. No one did but Ami... Ami did the right thing and wasn't believed and now she had an entire family against her, with people in high places.  
  
“Well, I'll keep an eye out as well, the sooner you get back on your feet the better. Meanwhile you can always stay here.” Peter responded. Ami responded with a nod, while playing with Ayush’ hair. “Hey Ay Ay, you haven't been terrorising people, right?” The toddler responded with a playful growl and a swipe of his hands, like he was clawing at Peter's arm. It was just the fingertips that touched the skin though, he couldn't injure Peter even on accident. “Alright then, let's see if we can get some food in you. Gotta grow to become a big strong dinosaur. One who can help his mother when she asks. You want that, right?” Peter asks and points at Ayush questioningly. He responds with a smile and Peter goes in for a high five which Ayush happily accepts.  
  
Meanwhile Peter has started mashing the potatoes and more and more people have started coming in to the shelter. Abu had joined them again and was instructing the volunteers. A line was starting to form so they could get food as soon as it was ready to be handed out. Ami and Ayush went to the back of the line, still early enough so there was definitely food over, but they were not the first in line. Peter mashed and mashed and mashed and finally it was done for serving.  
  
Lightly bantering with the people coming by his station, Peter served the mashed potatoes. It wasn't a very busy day, one of the ones where they might have some food leftover. It gave Peter a double feeling, less people at the shelter meant they didn't have to turn people away, less people were in need of their services. But it also meant that food might go to waste or people were out there, unaware of the services or feeling like they might not be worthy of them. But it wasn't like he was wishing for more people, but he knew that there were still people out there who needed the help but weren't receiving it.  
  
Peter knew that if he could, he'd change it in a heartbeat.  
  
\---  
  
Tony Stark didn't know what to aim for in a mentee. Because of course they needed to be smart, because they needed to keep up with him. He shouldn't have to explain basic physics to them. But if they were too smart, they might be a smartass and Tony would not like that. But it could help with insights. They needed to be smart but be unaware of how smart they were. If that made sense. Well it didn’t have to make sense to anyone but Tony, seeing as he was the one choosing them. Whether it made sense to anyone else aside from Tony or not, he needed to have a way to test it. But first he needed criteria he wanted in a mentee.  
  
So they needed to be intelligent. That’s one. You can't be good in everything but at least do alright in Physics, Math and possibly Chemistry. They should be able to at least read code, understand what it does. Know what to look for when spotting bugs, that kind of thing. Okay so a smart kid with some general STEM subjects understanding.  
  
Smart with an understanding of STEM subjects, that’s two. That kind of covered the intelligence department. But there was also the personality department. Their morals needed to be okay. Just be a good person. Have a drive to help others. There needed to be some sort of morals assessment in the test. It doesn't always have to match up with Tony's morals, but they should at least be in the same ballpark. Can't exactly clash on whether someone deserves fundamental human rights or not. But the example of the trolley problem, same someone you care about or a bunch of strangers, that's something that they can disagree on. As long as their reasoning is alright, they don't need to match.  
  
Smart, STEM, morals. That’s three. Now he didn't want to give the opportunity to just another rich kid who had someone take the test for them to achieve the optimal score. He wanted to give someone an opportunity, but not make it... a pity contest. But more of a recognizing your abilities to represent people. Or someone who might be struggling but who isn't using it for pity.  
  
He already had 4 key points he wanted to look for. But he did want to allow the ones being tested to show themselves in a way that was not test formatted. Show him a project they were working on or a vision they had for the future. Tell them a bit about themselves. Express themselves, present themselves how they want to be presented.  
  
That made five. Five main points he wanted in his test. And he wanted to test the limits of his mentee. Assess his skills. Throw in some impossible questions just to see whether they would admit defeat.  
  
Tony went to work, starting with creating a list of problems for them to solve varying in difficulty. He was confident that this would give him the best way to find a mentee that he actually liked. Despite the reason for getting a mentee was so he would take better care of himself, he went to work focusing on the project, food or sleep not even being considered.  
  
\---  
  
Once Peter’s shift at the shelter was finished, he had about an hour of rest before his shift began at Delmars. Normally he wouldn’t, but seeing as he got an extra shift at the shelter today, he had a packed day. It took him about half an hour to travel to Delmar’s, he could’ve been faster if he swung but changing into the seat and back felt like such a chore right now, especially seeing as it meant he’d have to feel dysphoric because he had to change out of his current clothing. The suit didn’t really allow for underneath, a binder and some thin shorts was all the protection he was getting from dysphoria. Spider-man usually made him feel better about it, but sometimes it just lingered and he couldn’t shake it. He didn’t want one of those days on top of everything today so he just walked to Delmars.  
  
Once he got there, he got a sandwich to eat before work while waiting for his shift to begin. It was relatively quiet in the store, there were a few people in but most people came in and left after getting their food. He didn’t blame them, the weather outside was nice. Not too hot but just a bit of the sun that you just want to shine on your face.  
  
For him it meant less cleaning up tables, just putting together some sandwiches, which he loved to do. Chatting with the other employees while waiting for a new customer, wipe down the counter, just a laid-back shift. It wasn’t going down in the history books, but it paid and he enjoyed it. It gave a sense of normalcy, just for a second being able to forget what happened and just be Peter Parker.  
  
Peter had needed that.  
  
\---  
  
It wasn’t until Peter was in ‘his’ room, sitting on the bed, with no way to distract him, that it sunk in. That those moments of normalcy are going to be an exception from now on rather than a rule. He couldn’t really settle in here, he was only staying here for a week, who knows where he would go after that. He might be moved out of the district, away from his work, his school, his…. Friends.  
  
Shit.  
  
Ned and MJ had no clue what had happened yet. He hadn’t felt the energy to respond to their messages. But they were going to find out soon and he couldn’t deal with their questions at school, he had to tell them before that. On top of that May’s funeral was soon and she’d want them to be there. She would want them there and he NEEDED them there. So he needed to tell them about that too. But first he’d need to break the news itself.  
  
He didn’t think it was news a text message could convey but he didn’t think he could utter the words, so he would have to.  
  
With hesitant fingers he opened the group text that had over hundred messages sent to it over the past few days. He took a deep breath and started typing.

Hey…  
  
I’m sorry for not responding for a few days but a lot has happened and I just couldn’t mentally.  
  
Three days ago, May passed away. She had been quarantined for around two days before that. I was just done fighting with the Kangaroo and was forced to go to an Avengers debriefing when I got a call from June that May was in critical condition. CPS brought me to a temporary housing shortly after, two nice people who can house me for a week. After that I don’t know where I’m being placed.  
  
May’s funeral is the day after tomorrow at 4PM. I won’t be attending school tomorrow but I will be there on Tuesday.  
  
Anyways, that is what happened. Sorry for not telling you sooner.

  


With shaky fingers he sends the message. It is a miracle it is still typed correctly but he did go back and correct a few things when he messed up.  
  
Ned responds almost immediately.  
  
**Nedward:**  
  
Duuuuuuuude. I would totally offer you stay at my place but you know how my dad is always busy taking care of my mom. I can come over and give you a big hug though!  
  
Anyways I was worried because you were at that fight and I saw you got hit pretty hard and then you didn’t respond anymore.  
  
Also…. The AVENGERS. You fought alongside the Avengers. You were in an Avengers debriefing, how cool is THAT!

 **MJaywalker:**  
  
There is a time and place to geek about avengers. This is not it.  
  
Anyways, sorry loser. We can’t take you in either, but foster care can be a good solution. It’s not a perfect solution but we take this day by day. You say you are with nice people? You are good for now. Once you move places we will see again whether we need to do something about it.  
  
Maybe you get a semi-permanent placement where you are free to do whatever you want and get food and a bed. Maybe you get a place that isn’t the right fit for you. We’ll make it work.

 **Nedward:**  
  
Yeah! And who knows, maybe you will end up with a famous celebrity who decided to foster. Or just someone rich. Who can get you all the lego sets you want. Where you can have sleepovers with me to build said lego sets.  
  
**Pjotr:**  
  
Thanks peeps. No hugs necessary, but I’ll want one Tuesday.

Soon they went back to sending memes to each other. Peter welcomed the distraction. His friends always knew what he needed.  
  
\---  
  
  
[tw: Mental Breakdown, depressive thoughts, mentions of religion]  
  
  
His clock read 2:33 AM. Peter was wide awake. He couldn’t sleep. He wanted to go out and patrol but he didn’t want to risk it. So he stayed put. He sat on his bed and slowly let his thoughts get untangled. Slowly let the chaos in his head form actual thoughts.  
  
He wished he hadn’t.  
  
Because as soon as he did that, he started spiralling. He was alone, it was dark, no one was there. He couldn’t go out as Spider-Man right now at night, and who knows whether in the next placement he could go out at all. That’s also a thing. Placements. He couldn’t get attached to people because he already knew, he could be moved without notice. He. Had. No. One. No family, just a few friends, but it was only a matter of time before they realized that he was too much effort and left him too.  
  
He wondered. He wondered why he deserved all this. He was an orphan, he had 4 parental figures die. He watched 2 of them die. He was transgender, so he also had dysphoria to add to that mix. Because of the dysphoria he had also developed depression and anxiety. He was bit by a radioactive spider, which isn’t necessarily bad because it gave him superpowers but because of it he put his life at risk and put his body in harms way time and time again, something that he had to do to live with himself but which wasn’t ideal nonetheless. All that is just the tip of the iceberg.  
  
He wondered whether there was someone up above testing him. He doubted it, who could even imagine something like this, it had to be dumb luck. But if there was, why him and what were they testing. His resilience? He think he proved that one. His mental health? Yeah he was already aware he needed therapy to work through some issues, why worsen it.  
His mind kept adding to the list. The list of things that were wrong with him. The bad things that happened in his life and Peter just broke. The dam of everything he was holding back broke. He started crying and to make matters worse, it made him more dysphoric, which made him cry more and it became an endless cycle. Meanwhile his brain was still adding onto the list.  
  
When your brain is even working against you, how are you supposed to stop it. How are you supposed to become alright again. Because if your brain can’t even justify what is happening to you, how will it ever justify the steps you need to take to feel okay again. It didn’t make sense. Peter wanted to sleep so badly, he was exhausted but he couldn’t. Not while he felt like this. Not while he was still crying. May was sleeping forever so he had to be awake.  
  
It was not healthy, Peter knew this. But Peter couldn’t get out of this. The time on his alarm read 4:54 AM. Dave had told him that he was going to get up at 5:30 AM so he could go for a run before work. 35 more minutes. Peter didn’t know whether he would like people checking up on him. It were people that would just leave later anyways.  
  
Slowly Peter stopped crying. He wrapped himself in a blanket and just felt numb. At least his head had stopped screaming. He couldn’t really process anything going on inside his head but at least it was better than the screaming. For now at least. Anything was better than the screaming, he figured.  
  
Peter slept for a total of 48 minutes that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so during the trigger warning Peter gets depressed and has a mental breakdown. He starts thinking about what happened to him and is pessimistic about the future.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it isn't the best but it's necessary to introduce some parts of the story.  
> Also I am almost at 100 kudos? and 1484 hits? It is so wild to me each time I see that I have more kudos, and even more when I get a notification that someone commented. And people are so positive?
> 
> Anyways, school is starting again so I am not sure yet what balance my writing is going to be. I might be able to write more because I can separate work and school or I can not. We will see I guess. At least next week I have a week off so hopefully some more chapters. Thank you for reading!


	7. C7 - Return to hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically Peter goes back to school, we find out more about Nico's home life and a short bit of twitter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so... it's been a bit. I have legit had this chapter open the entire time but my progress was very slow soooo yeah. Its also why its shorter than normal, sorry. During this time I got a bunch of kudo notifications though, and every single time it motivated me to write a bit more.
> 
> Anyways this chapter contains a few trigger warnings, I will be mentioning them here and provided a summary of the chapter at the bottom.
> 
> Trigger warnings:  
> Brief contemplation about religion  
> Bullying  
> Mentions of injury due to dissociation  
> Derealisation  
> Presumed loss of parent  
> Implied child (teenager) neglect
> 
> If you do want to read the chapter but want me to remove a bit and send it to you, just tell me :D

Peter didn’t know what to feel when he stepped into school. It felt like everyone was staring at him, whispering about him. He did not know how much they knew, he knew June had arranged an obituary for May, but he doubted the kids at his school read those. Maybe their parents did. Oh god, do they all know? Do they pity him, is everything going to be different? Is he not even going to get normalcy at school? 

He stepped into English class and got a solemn look from his English teacher. He guessed she knew, but he would imagine the school would have informed his teachers. He didn’t like it though, he now knew already that he would get pitying glances the entire day to remind him of what happened. 

As Peter sat down next to Ned he noticed that MJ was not there yet. There was still plenty of time before class was starting but MJ was usually there before anyone else. But he didn’t worry yet, they might have overslept, or forgot their bag making them miss the bus or something similar. If they were not there yet at the end of class, he would start to take action. 

As soon as Peter read the material they were going to be covering today, he felt ready to burst into tears. They were going to cover Oliver Twist. This had to be some kind of twisted joke. Life couldn’t possibly be this terrible. If there was something out there calling the shots, they certainly had it out for him because this had become unreal. How did this happen to him. How did life decide to screw him over again and again and kick him while he is down. He just couldn’t believe it. 

At least Ned was there, laying a comforting hand on his, just knowing that he was there was helping. Peter was going to have a rough day ahead of him. 

\---

Unfortunately for Peter right now, not everyone was pitying him. As soon as he reached his locker and moved to open it, he was rammed into the lockers by a shoulder of one of Flash’ buddies. Alright, the physical pain was there, now where is the quip…. 

“Honestly Parker, when will you get that no one wants you around? I mean even your aunt. That has to be a pretty big indicator. I mean come on, you are in a school for geniuses, you have got to be able to see the pattern.” One of Flash’ buddies said. 

Another one piped in. “So where are they going to dump you now? Can’t exactly go to family, so…. Are you going to be fostered? Tossed from house to house? Or have you chosen to see that you don’t deserve a home and took a garbage bag full of belongings to the streets? Huh?” 

Peter shrunk into himself but in the corner of his eye he noticed something strange. At the mention of living on the streets Flash went rigid. Where before this he had an uncomfortable but relaxed position. But right now, all the muscles in Flash’ body seemed to tense. He looked like he was about to speak up, but decided against it. 

Another one of them started to speak but this time Flash actually interrupted. “Lay off him. You have made your point, there hasn’t even been a funeral yet. You hurt him physically and mentally now walk along.” Peter stared at him with doe-like eyes. Was that really Flash that said that. His bully for years now said that. Peter was flabbergasted. 

Apparently his buddies were too. “What are you going on about, dude? Are you really on his side? Well then, you made your choice. Go join the losers and life’s rejects.” One of them spoke up and sounds of agreements came from all around. Just like that, Flash lost everything. 

Peter thought about it but eventually he decided that he had no choice. The next interaction might shape the future. With a soft hand on his back, Peter started guiding Flash towards their next class. “We have 2 more minutes before we need to be in Physics. We don’t have time to process and unpack all that just happened.” To which Flash mouth started opening and closing, nothing coming out of his mouth, still not comprehending what just happened. 

\--- 

Official Stark Industries @StarkIndustries 

With the first few shelters opening soon, we are finally able to introduce our new website. www.ppf.com, also able to be found as www.pepperpottsfoundation.com, on here there is the necessary information and also some tips for those who are currently unable to make it to one of our shelters. 

| Official Stark Industries @StarkIndustries 

On this website we will also be used to be transparent about the legalities and rules of our shelters. We ask you to first look on there before posing a question here. We will now be answering questions using #PPFQNA 

Moth – Hue @ooohthelight 

How far are you planning to expand these shelters, city? State? Country? Continent? Worldwide? #PPFQNA 

| Official Stark Industries @StarkIndustries 

We are using these first few shelters to make sure we don’t miss anything, once we have trust that nothing can go wrong, we will be expanding it, our goals is to at least have shelters all over America, but Worldwide is something we hope we can achieve, though this would take a few years. 

||Moth – Hue @oooohthelight 

Okay, thank you so much! 

Cam @treeboi 

#PPFQNA You are an LGBTQ+ shelter, how do you make sure pronouns are known to everyone, seeing as you can’t always know by appearance. 

| Official Stark Industries @StarkIndustries 

Everyone gets a card with their current name, pronouns and a fun fact about themselves. It is attached with a magnet or to a necklace and can always be gotten again if someone lost it or changed name or pronouns etc. 

\--- 

One of the things that was bothering Peter the most was that MJ was still not there. MJ missing school was very rare and they would be here unless they were too ill to walk, injured or something else bad happened. Either way he didn’t like the options presented before him. 

Should he call them? Or would that be too pushy or needy. I mean if they were ill they probably would like some rest. He should ask Ned. 

Walking over to Ned he palmed the phone in his pocket. “Ned? You haven’t heard from MJ either, have you?” Ned paused to think for a second then shook his head. “Should we call them? I mean this is not like them.” 

Ned looked at Peter with sympathy. “Give them a call. If they pick up, they pick up. If they don’t, call again later and if after school we haven’t heard anything, we’ll drive by their house. It’ll be fine.” Peter nodded and took his phone out. They always had to wait to enter the room for this class because they had to cross the entire school to get to the class and they aren’t leaving early from their smoke break. That was a direct quote of the teacher. 

After clicking on MJ’s contact it started to ring. Once. Twice. Three times. Then MJ picked up. “I’m fine, loser.” Peter visibly relaxed. But it still was not enough, he needed an explanation. 

“Why aren’t you at school?” He asked hesitantly. His hands were shaking, his whole body, his mind still panicking about what could have happened. Because what if they are lying? What if they are relatively fine but still not fine. 

Before Peter’s train of thought could go much further, MJ interrupted him. “I just had a foggy brain day. Very dissociated so when I went to make breakfast, I didn’t realize I was touching it until a few seconds too late. I just had to go to the hospital for a bit, and I figured I’d better try to ground myself at home so I can support you later today. Also my laptop was dead and I kind of need it to take notes right now.” MJ answered and Peter nodded, until he saw Ned making fun of his nodding and he realized that they couldn’t see them. 

He grew a bit flustered before responding. “Ugh, I was just nodding and if it weren’t for Ned I’d still be doing it.” Peter groaned and MJ let out a chuckle. 

“Honestly I was already zoning out a bit again so I didn’t even know how much time has passed.” MJ said and Peter laughed. Then he saw the teacher approaching so he said his goodbyes to them and they promised that they’d be there at the funeral. 

They headed into the classroom and to Peter’s surprise, Flash decided to sit somewhat next to them, the table besides them to be exact, whereas normally he would be behind Peter at the back of the class, sometimes throwing paper wads. But Peter wasn’t complaining, he was just having some difficulty processing it. 

He wondered what made Flash change. It had to be a pretty big change to have him change perspective after years of bullying. 

Honestly, he still wasn’t sure that this wasn’t just a dream. Well not exactly a good dream, May was still dead, but not a bad one either. Because he was not sure how he had made it through the day. Probably because this day just didn’t feel normal or real. Flash is no longer bullying him, MJ is not here, the universe decided that Oliver Twist was the perfect reading material right now. It just didn’t seem to process. 

He didn’t mind though, breaking down in front of his classmates was one of the last things he’d like to do right about now. Not only would it be embarrassing, he wouldn’t be able to handle the dysphoria from crying. It made him look like a girl. So Peter wasn’t complaining, but he wasn’t fully confident that today was real either. 

\--- 

Nico never invited people inside their home. Despite them spending nearly all of their time there, it didn’t feel like a home. Not only were the only pictures of them that were put up those of when they were a toddler, and forced to present female. Their room was not that big, it fit their bed and a small dresser for clothing. They couldn’t fully open the drawers, there was simply not enough room for that. 

Pictures of their dad were nowhere to be found. Over the years their mom had ripped, thrown out or burnt every single one of them. The only picture they had left of him was the one that was hidden in their phone case. It was a picture of them together, their dad was just about to get deployed again, and Nico had managed to convince their parents that they wanted to buzz their head like their dad. It was their last and favourite picture of them. They went missing in action but were presumed dead along with the rest of the squad. A landmine, they had said. They drove over it and although some of the bodies were found, their dad was not one of them. Enough blood loss to presume though. 

It would be a miracle if they were still alive, especially since there was no contact in the 7 years that he had been gone. Nico didn’t believe in miracles anymore. 

It also wasn’t like Nico had friends to bring home. They didn’t go outside much and they were home-schooled so they also didn’t have the social contacts school brought along. It was alright with them though, they were pretty smart and it allowed them to work on projects that they liked instead of those the teacher picked out. 

Going to an actual school wasn’t really an option for them. They were the main provider, their mother only covering the rent. So to work enough to pay for everything, they needed to be able to work during school hours. 

It did have some benefits though. They were allowed to choose their own meals, they had no chores, but that was more because their mother didn’t care. They could entirely plan out their own day, go wherever they wanted to. They didn’t have school to worry about, and as long as they were on time for work, it didn’t matter what they did. 

Nico knew this wasn’t right, knew that this was not a situation they were supposed to be in. However, it was not like there was anywhere else to go, and they didn’t want to risk getting put into foster care. They just needed to make it through till college. Their dad actually set up a college fund that was impossible to get into until he got into college, and there was enough in there for whatever college they wanted including housing. So they just needed to go on for a bit longer, before they were forever free. 

They could make it a little longer, especially now they were able to run again due to Spider-Man’s recommendation of sports-tape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is probably gonna be sad. And I have no clue how long it is going to take to write, it depends on school and mental health. My goal is to at least post a chapter each month though, so far so good, so if nothing happens it should take a month at most.
> 
> Please tell me if I overdid or forgot something with the warnings.
> 
> I love all of you /p and thank you for reading
> 
> Also PS: That one bookmarked reader with ADHD, I couldn't stop laughing about your bookmark and it made my day
> 
> Summary of chapter: During this chapter Peter went back to school and felt anxious because he felt people were whispering about him and pitying him. He also can't fin MJ which is odd.   
> Flash' friend group bullies him but Flash speaks up, especially after a comment about living on the streets, and his 'friend' group make him an outcast. Peter just leads them to their next class because there is not enough time to unpack all that.  
> Stark industries posts about the new Pepper Potts foundation on Twitter and has a small QnA  
> Peter finds out MJ stayed at home because of an injury sustained after dissociating, so they could be there for Peter at the funeral.  
> Peter wonders about Flash' change in attitude and wonders whether today is actually real.  
> We learn more about Nico's home life. Nico's mother only pays the rent, they need to take care of the rest on their own. Nico's dad was in the army and did not return from his last tour. Nico is homeschooled so they can work enough hours, they just need to get to college so they can live on their father's college fund.

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, you are currently at the end of what I have published. I don't know when I'll update again, but I'll try to do it as soon as possible.
> 
> Thank you again and please comment or give kudos or interact in some way? It would make my year.


End file.
